The Rise of a Legend
by Thorn3drose
Summary: A young boy rises to become strong but not without the help of a mysterious stranger. Returning to his home village after training with this stranger, Naruto has become very strong for his age. Will he be recognized as a hero or a threat to Konoha?
1. Chapter 1

**Please read and review. This is my first fan fiction. Hope you like it.**

**There is no yaoi in this story and I will decide on couples later on. Leave any comments or suggestions to help improve this story.**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Naruto or any of the Naruto Characters. If I did I would be rich.**

**Summary****: A young boy rises to become strong but not without the help of a mysterious stranger. Returning to his home village after training with this stranger, Naruto has become very strong for his age. Will he be recognized as a hero or will he become a threat to the village?**

**Chapter 1**

The beating of the rain kept it's constant pace as the sky turned dark and the gray clouds hid the sun from shining. The rain fell hard and fast on the silent village, bombarding each rooftop with cold pellets of rain. The vast village consisted of various buildings, every color and size, but only one stood out above the rest. A large building sat in front of a large monument with the faces of four carved into stone. The bright red building stood tall and mighty over the homes and buildings throughout the village with the kanji for fire as it's proud symbol. Fire stands for the country that is the home to this village hidden in the leaves. And fire for the belief of fighting to protect what is precious to you. A belief that runs deep in the veins of each and every resident of this village known as Konoha, one of the strongest villages in the fire country. A belief known as the Will of Fire.

In this village, home to a large amount of highly skilled ninjas also known as shinobi, the residents were safe from the cold and from the rain. They hid out in the comfort of their warm, cozy homes until the storm could pass so they can see the sun shine down on Konoha once again. All of Konoha was sheltered from the rain, that is all but one.

A lone figure could be seen at the top of the mountain, sitting on the fourth face carved into the massive rock. Each of the faces were the most respected people in the history of Konoha. The first two faces known as the Shodaime and the Nindaime Hokage were the founders of Konoha. Their skill and power on a level not ordinary for regular shinobi to reach gave them the position to lead the village. The leader of Konoha was chosen by their level and power and were given the title as Hokage. There has been only four hokages so far in Konoha and a new one is chosen when the previous Hokage dies or retires. Unfortunately, the first two hokages have passed on to the next world after dying a heroic death, but the third hokage still lives on. The Sandaime hokage was forced out of retirement after his successor sacrificed his life for the village. The Sandaime hokage was the student of the first and second hokage and followed in their footsteps to become hokage. The Sandaime's student, Namikaze Minato, became the Yondaime, the fourth and the greatest of the hokages. Unfortunately, he died at a young age when he sacrificed himself to save the village from the kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox. He did not defeat the fox, but sealed it away in an infant. One that he asked to be looked upon as a hero, but instead is thought as a monster.

It has been eight years since that day and now that infant is a young boy who sits at the head of the Hokage mountain. Over the years, he has faced torment from the villagers, but is unaware about the event that occurred when he was born. The young generation are also unaware of the event but they can feel their parents' hatred for the boy.

He sits alone, always alone, on the top of the monument. Now soaked from the pouring rain, he sits with his arms folded around his knees and his gaze towards the village below. His blue eyes, once filled with life and joy, were hid behind a mop of blonde, spiky hair while water dripped down his tan face. He had a strange set of birthmarks on each cheek, three lines that looked like whiskers. His eyes were filled with such sadness, that it was hard to believe that a eight year old boy could experience so much pain. Since the day of his birth, he was always alone. He had no parents, friends, or anyone to care for him. Sometimes, the Hokage would give him some money for food, clothes, and rent for his apartment but it still didn't help. People's hatred for him only got him little clothes and food. He wore a worn out yellow shirt with a pair of black sweat pants that came above his ankles. On his feet were a pair of blue traditional shinobi sandals. He had a poor diet that consisted of ramen noodles. He ate it frequently not just because it was his favorite food but it was the cheapest. He struggled to survive in a old, rundown apartment that the landlord was reluctant to give him. He barely had any furniture except for a old mattress, a table and a couple of chairs.

Always confused about what he did wrong to make the villagers so angry, he tries to avoid any contact with people. He had no one that had truly cared about him. Even in the ninja academy, where he currently attends, he has no friends. Even though his teacher was kind to him, he knew deep down that he was just doing his job and never really cared about the child. Maybe it would be best if he just stayed home and never came out. He was already failing his classes in the academy, so there was no point in going anymore.

He picked himself up and stood above the village. Water ran down his face as the rain beat down hard on his body. With the agility that all ninjas have, even the young academy students, he jumped down to the barren streets. With his hands in his pockets and his gaze toward his feet, he walked along the road to the direction of his home. The streets were dark, dark enough that the boy did not notice the three figures in his path. He didn't notice them until he bumped into something.

"Watch where you're going, you demon brat!" The man spat his words with a harsh tone. The boy looked up to see the three men standing before him. Each one was a couple of feet taller than him and wearing hoods to conceal their faces from the rain.

"I'm sorry" the boy barely whispered those words and began to walk off. He began to take a couple steps but found himself being held up against a wall. The man in the center had his cold, wet hand around the boy's neck while lifting him in the air.

"You think I'll let you get away, I should kill you right now and do this village a favor." A small grin could be seen on the man's face under the hood as he squeezed harder on the boy's neck.

"Kill him now Ryota!"

"Make him suffer!" Said the other two men as they looked at their leader with excitement.

"Kenta! Masuyo! Shut up!" Said Ryota as he slightly tilted his head to the left to look at the men behind him. As he returned his gaze back at the boy, he whispered into his ear. "When I done with you, you are going to beg for death."

"P-Please…Don't…" was all the boy managed to say while clawing at the man's hand for air.

"Please don't what? Hurt you? Don't make me laugh." He pulled out a knife from his pocket and held it up to the boy.

"Just die and go to hell where you belong, you monster." Warm tears streamed down the boy's face as he felt the man move his hand from his neck to hold him up by his shirt. "_This is the _end" was the last thing that ran through the boy's mind. Suddenly, everything went blank as he felt the cold metal of the knife plunged into his arm and pulled out of his skin. The blood dripped to the floor as the sound of screams filled the air. Again, the man plunged the knife deep into the boy's left leg and the kid howled in pain. The three men just laughed at the sight, they were enjoying the sound of agony coming from their victim's mouth. The boy's mind went cloudy as the men laughed their heads off, his mind was slowly going dark. Suddenly the sound of laughter stopped and silence followed after. The sound of metal hitting the wet pavement echoed throughout the abandoned streets. The leader of the group was wincing in pain as he felt a strong hand gripping his wrist forcing the knife to fall. Looking up, he saw four Anbu surrounding him and his friends. Anbu are the elite shinobi of Konoha and work directly under the hokage's orders. Each Anbu member wore a mask and took the identity of animal to conceal their true identity from enemies outside the village. The four ninjas surrounding the three men had their own unique masks over their face. The three anbu standing behind Kenta and Masuyo had masks of a bear, a owl, and a cat. The one standing in front of Ryota wore a mask of a wolf and tightened his grip around the man's wrist causing him to yell in pain. Cat took a step forward toward Kenta and Masayo who were to scared to move.

"You three are under arrest by the orders of the hokage himself."

"Release the boy immediately or I'll break your hand." Wolf spoke with much venom in his tone. Ryota did what he was told and the boy fell to the wet floor, covered in blood. The boy slowly fell unconscious as he felt himself being lifted off the floor. Wolf picked up the boy in his arms and looked at his comrades. With a slight nod, Owl and Bear knocked out Kenta and Masuyo with a hit to the back of their necks. Ryota watched as his friends were thrown over their shoulders and then looked back at wolf.

"Why are you protecting a monster like him?"

"We are under the Hokage's orders to protect the boy. He will deal with you later but for now we need to get this boy medical attention." With that Cat knocked out Ryota and slung him over her back.

" Cat, Owl, Bear. Take them to Ibiki for interrogation, I will take the boy to the hospital."

"Hai" They said in unison and disappeared from sight, leaving the streets once again empty. Wolf appeared at a white building with the sign reading _Hospital _above the door. Wolf entered the building to see a nurse, working her late shift, sitting at the front desk. Wolf walked up to her to get her attention from the massive paperwork on the desk.

" This boy needs medical attention, he is wounded on his left leg and left shoulder" The nurse looked over the boy in his arms. Realizing who the boy was, the look of disgust spread on her face. Wolf noticed this immediately.

"These are the hokage's orders" The nurse knew if she didn't tend to the boy's wounds, she would be in trouble with the hokage himself. She reluctantly took Wolf and the boy down the hallway. She stopped suddenly and slid the door open to a empty room and Wolf placed the boy on the bed. The nurse looked over the boy's wounds and was surprised at what she saw. His wounds were beginning to close, he seemed to be healing himself. The wounds were deep but nothing too serious. The nurse wrapped his arm and leg in gauze as she removed his wet clothes and replaced them with some standard hospital clothing. Wolf, who was watching the nurse, turned to leave when he saw she was done. As he was about to open the door, he heard a soft voice.

"Thank you" Wolf turned to the boy to see that his blue eyes were now slightly open and staring at him.

"Don't thank me, Thank Hokage-sama. I was following his orders." Wolf responded.

" You need to get some rest now." The nurse said as she walked away from his bed. The nurse and wolf walked out of the room to allow the boy to rest. He let himself fall back to sleep, but there was still one thing going through his mind._ Why? Why does this happen to me?_

**End of Chapter 1. Please Review and I will put up chapter 2.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer-**** I do not own Naruto**

**Pease Remember to review!**

**Enjoy the Story!**

The white hospital room was silent except for the pattering sound of rain hitting the window. The blonde boy was sitting up in his bed watching the water stream down the glass. He was lost in his thoughts about the recent events that occurred the night before. _Why does this always happen? Why do they hate me? Why? _A warm tear slid down his face and landed on the back of his hand.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when the door to his room slid open and a figure stepped inside. The boy wiped away the tears that were on the brink of falling from his eyes with the back of his hand. When he brought his eyes to face the figure, he quickly turned his gaze back to the window. The figure was an elderly looking man dressed in a red and white robe with a hat to match. He examined the boy who was no longer looking at him. The nurse informed the old man of the boy's wounds, but he was surprised when she said that his wounds healed themselves. She stated that when she was changing his bandages early this morning, the wounds on his leg and shoulder were gone, there was not even a scar. The old man gave the boy one more look before closing his eyes and sitting on the edge of the bed. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, I was told that you were attacked last night, but you look fine to me. So how are you feeling today, Naruto?" Naruto seemed too focused on the window that he did not respond to the man's question. The silence was suddenly broken by the boy's soft voice.

"I'm sorry" the man was taken back by the boy's words. He reopened his eyes to look at the boy.

"Sorry? For what?" There was a pause of silence before the boy started again.

"Sorry for being so weak. I am always causing trouble for you. Everyone is right... I do deserve to die. I'm just a mons-"

"Enough!" the boy was startled by the anger in the man's voice. He stared at the man who was now standing by his bed staring back at him. " I don't want you to ever speak like that again. You are not weak, Naruto. In fact, I believe you are one of the strongest people I have ever met." Naruto was shocked by the man's words.

"D-Do you...really mean that? Naruto said in a whisper. The old man looked at confused by his question.

"Naruto, I can' t imagine what life has been like for you and it is probably hard for you to trust anyone. But I promise you that you can trust in me and I meant every word." Naruto's eyes began to water.

" But why...why does this happen to me?" Naruto refused to let his tears fall and the old man watched him feeling helpless. _Naruto how long have you felt this way? I remember when you were full of such life. Why has that life died? I wish I was there for you more. If only I can make your pain go away._ Suddenly the old man turned to leave the room. With his back turned to the boy, he spoke.

" I will help you become strong, Naruto! No matter what it takes!" Naruto looked up to the man.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama" Naruto did not see the frown on the Hokage's face.

"I have some things to take care of right now, but I'll be back later to take you home. We can get some ramen later, my treat."

"No thank you, Hokage-sama. Maybe next time." At that moment, the hokage knew that the boy was depressed on the inside. First, Naruto called him by his proper title which Naruto hasn't used in years. Of course you were supposed to show the hokage your respect by using a proper title like _Hokage-sama _when addressing him. But Naruto did not see the Hokage as an important man, instead he saw him as an old man and that was what Naruto referred to him as, _Old man_. The second change the hokage noticed was the fact that Naruto turned down the offer for a free meal at Ichiraku, the ramen stand which was Naruto's favorite place to eat. _If Naruto is not eating ramen than he is not eating anything. The poor boy is going to starve himself because of the pain he is feeling._ The hokage sighed at the thought and continued to leave the room. He decided that he needed to speak with the council elders immediately before things gets worse.

The Third Hokage sat in his office looking over the missions that needed to be ranked. Each mission that was given to a Konoha shinobi was ranked by it's difficulty so the appropriate level ninja could complete that said mission. The sudden knock on the door caused him to look up from his desk.

"Enter" An elder man and women walked into the room.

" You summoned us, Sarutobi."

" Yes I did. Homura, Koharu, please sit down." They took a seat on the couch across from the Hokage's desk. Homura was the first to speak.

"What do you wish to discuss, Sarutobi?"

"Uzumaki Naruto" Sarutobi responded with a serious tone. The two elders were startled by the topic chosen and Koharu decided it was her turn to speak.

" The Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tailed Kyuubi? What about him?"

" It has come to my attention that he was attacked by the villagers for the third time this week and he has become incredibly depressed. I am worried about his safety and health."

"You should not concern yourself with the kyuubi container. The village would not be happy to see you caring for that boy. He has already been causing trouble in the village with his so called pranks." The hokage was enraged by the elders words.

"That boy hasn't done anything wrong. He is not the kyuubi so he shouldn't be treated like one. If the attacks on his life continues, I not only fear for him but for the village." The elders raised their eyebrows at the questionable statement.

"What do you mean fear for the village?" Koharu asked.

"If these attacks continue, he could one day call on the kyuubi's power."

"So you think the boy would attack the village out of hate for the villagers."

"I don't believe Naruto would do such a thing. Even though he is disliked by the majority of the village, he does not have the power to hate Konoha. All he wants is to be acknowledged by everyone in this village. He even told me awhile back that he wanted to take the title of Hokage. However, I believe that if the situation calls for it and the boy's life depended on it, the kyuubi could take control of the boy to protect himself. And if that were to happen, there is nothing stopping it from finishing what it started eight years ago." The elders thought about this for a moment.

"Than what do you suppose we do about this?"

" I am assigning a personal instructor to the boy."

"We cannot let him-" Sarutobi gestured Homura to stop.

"Let me explain." Homura sighed and nodded for the Hokage to continue. "If the boy is strong enough to protect himself than there would be no need to worry if he is in a life or death situation. Besides, the stronger Naruto becomes, the harder it would be for the kyuubi to take control of his body." The elders knew that Sarutobi was right. Koharu sighed in defeat.

"Very well Sarutobi, but we will be monitoring his training to make sure nothing goes wrong. Who do you have in mind to train him?" Sarutobi couldn't help but smirk in the inside.

"I am sorry to say that you won't be able to keep tabs on him."

"And why is that?" Koharu said with a smug look on her face.

"Because his training will take place outside the village."

"Why would you have his sensei train him outside Konoha?" It was Homura turn to have a smug look on his face.

"Because his sensei is not from this village."

"What?! Why would you have a someone not from Konoha train him? Who is this person?"

"A person who is said to be highly skilled and has the ability to train someone like Naruto." Sarutobi paused for a moment. "The one who summoned the dragon and lit the morning sky."

"Are you going senile, Sarutobi? That is only a legend!"

"Think what you want, but I know for a fact, that person does exist"

"Even if you are right, how are you supposed to find a person like that?"

" I have my ways, but if you excuse me, I must see a very important patient in the hospital. Meeting dismissed." The hokage left the room, leaving two very confused council elders. The hokage had a smile on his face as he walked down the hall of the hokage tower.

When he arrived at the hospital, the nurse escorted him to Naruto's room. She slid the door to his room open.

"Naruto, you have a..." Realization hit the nurse hard. She looked around to see the blonde patient was gone. "Oh no! He left before he could be released!" The hokage was staring at the now open window watching the rain fall. _This is not good! Naruto...where did you go? _

**End of Chapter 2**

**Please Review if you want to read the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Naruto**

**Please Review on this chapter**

**Enjoy the story**

A search team moved undetected through the empty streets in search for a certain, blonde, eight-year old. Four chuunins were given a mission by the hokage to locate Uzumaki Naruto and as the time passed, the mission was proving to be very difficult. The hokage was watching the situation from the window in his office. _It would seem that you are quite the expert when it comes to being invisible, Naruto._ Over the years, the boy learned how to be cunning when he was running and hiding. The pranks he pulled on the village taught him how to elude most of Konoha's chuunins. It would take a jounin or a ninja who specializes in tracking to find him but unfortunately most of them were away on their own missions. _I guess if you are ignored daily, than it won't be difficult to vanish from sight. Naruto, where are you?_ The hokage did not move from the window when a sudden presence appeared behind him.

"Report" He turned to face the figure. The leader of the chuunin search team was bowing to the leader of Konoha. He was in his mid-twenties and wore the traditional green chuunin vest. He wore his Konoha headband like a bandana over his brown hair with the leaf symbol on the back of his head. He moved the toothpick he was chewing on to the side of his mouth before speaking.

"We were unsuccessful in locating Uzumaki Naruto, hokage-sama."

"You and you're team are to continue your search. The reports given to me by the guards at each entrance of the village state that they have not seen Naruto. That means he is still somewhere in Konoha's walls and I want him found before something happens to him. Return to your team and continue the mission. I trust you will be able to find him, Genma. You are dismissed." And with a puff of smoke, Genma was gone to return to his team. _That boy can be anywhere in this village, and he will be difficult to track in this weather. I'm getting too old for this job. _Sarutobi let out a sigh as he fell back into his chair. The only thing left was to wait and see what happens next.

At the far side of the village, Naruto was pelted with the cold rain as he found himself in a abandoned district in Konoha. The streets were silent and dark, showing no signs of life. All that could be heard was the heavy breathing escaping from his mouth and the rain. He felt like he was running for hours, trying to hide from the ninjas that were searching for him. He couldn't let them find him, they would just take him back. He needed to get away from this village. It was too painful for him to live in Konoha anymore. He had nothing, he was all alone. It would be easier if he just left, but first he had to wait. He knew he would not get passed the guards that were stationed at each entrance. The guards would change shifts in a few hours and when they do he will make his move. The cover of night would allow him to sneak away. He just had to hideout until it was safe to start again.

No one would come looking for him in this part of the village since the whole place was like a ghost town. He heard that some sort of accident had occurred hear about six months ago. Well, it was more like a massacre, everyone was slaughtered by one man that night leaving only one survivor. This district belonged to one of the strongest clans in Konoha with one of the most feared keki genki, a blood line trait that was passed down in certain clans. The Hyuugas were known for their keki genki, the byakugan, but this clan was famous for a different keki genki, the sharingan, the blood line trait of the Uchihas. The Uchihas were a strong clan and the founders of Konoha's police force. It was hard to believe they were wiped out so easily by one man leaving only one survivor and rumors say that the man was one of their very own. Another rumor was that it was the survivor's brother.

Naruto's body was growing heavy and weak from exhaustion. The buildings were empty so he decided he would hide out and rest in one of them. He went to an alley on the side of one of the homes to try and slip into one of the windows. He stuck his face to the glass and peered into the window. The house was dark and dusty, but no one would find him here. When he tried to slide the window open, it did not budge. It was locked from the inside. _Great, now I need to find anoth-_

"Looks like I finally found you." Naruto was frozen in his spot. He turned his head to the side to see the presence standing behind him. Naruto recognized his face from the academy, He was Mizuki, one of the teachers who worked along side Iruka, Naruto's academy teacher. He, too, wore the traditional green chuunin vest and his headband as a bandana over his silver hair. He was apart of the search team to locate Naruto.

"You were very difficult to find, I'll give you that." The anger in Naruto was building up. There was no way they will take him back to the hokage. No one was going to stop him.

"I'm leaving this village for good and you're not going to stop me." Naruto suddenly dashed away from the Chuunin and ran down the street as fast as he could. Mizuki was still behind him so he took a quick turn to the right to try to give him the slip. Unfortunately, he made a big mistake. His right turn took him down an alley until he stopped at a dead end. Mizuki appeared behind him, effectively trapping him between him and the wall.

"Looks like your trapped"

"I'm not going to let you take me back to the hoka-" He was interrupted when the man began to laugh.

"I wasn't planning to take you back, I had something else in mind" Naruto was now completely confused.

"What does that mean?" Suddenly, a kunai knife embedded itself into his arm, pinning him to the wall behind him. Naruto grunted in pain trying not to scream. Mizuki walked slowly to the boy and yanked the kunai out of his arm causing Naruto to fall to his knees. He kneeled down in front of Naruto.

"I'm going to kill you nice and slow" The blood was dripping down the boy's arm and tears were dripping down his face.

"N-Not again. Why is this happening to me?" A knee than connected with his face sending him into the wall. A firm hand was holding him by his shirt and he could feel the man's breath by his ear.

"Do you know why everyone hates you, Naruto?" He said, whispering in the boy's ear. "I am aware you know the story of the kyuubi that attacked the village eight years ago and how he was defeated. Well, let me tell you a little secret." There was a pause of silence and a evil grin formed on Mizuki's face. "The kyuubi is still alive and is sealed in you." Naruto's eyes widened in fear. No way this could be true. He was dropped to the floor and the chuunin was laughing like a mad man. "Don't you see Naruto? This is why everyone hates you so much. You are a monster to everyone in this village and that is why you don't deserve to live." Now that Naruto thought of it, the more it made sense. He was always hated and was called a monster or demon, and now he knew the reason why. The kyuubi was sealed in him. Mizuki kicked Naruto in his side causing him to roll over on his back. A series of kicks connected with his stomach and he began to cough up blood.

"When I'm done with you, not even the others will be able to find your body" Naruto took each hit, causing him more pain. No one was going to save him this time. This district was completely empty, no one would find them. Naruto felt his eyesight cloud and his body was going limp. He was slipping unconscious and the world was going dark. He was going to die, he was already seeing a bright light. It was moving closer and glowing brighter. _It __feels so warm. Its like a giant fire ball. Wait, _…_it is a giant fire ball!_

"**Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" **A fireball lit the alleyway as it sped past the now unconscious Naruto and towards the chuunin. Mizuki was shocked but was able to avoid the jutsu. When he thought he was safe, a fist connected to his face. Mizuki was hit with several blows but could not see the face of his attacker. He was violently kicked into the wall behind him. When he looked up, several kunai were flying towards him. He shut his eyes, waiting for the pain, but all he heard were several thuds around him. Each kunai cut through parts of his clothes and dug deep into the wall behind him. He was pinned to the wall. Looking up, his eyes widen as he looked face to face with his attacker, revealing a young boy with black hair and coal like eyes.

"Y-You're…"

"Uchiha Sasuke" was all the boy said his fist collided with Mizuki's face, leaving him unconscious.

**End of Chapter 3**

**Please leave comments about what you think about this chapter.**

**Chapter 4 will be up soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto**

**Author's Note:**

**For some of you that are wondering, this is not a yaoi fan fic, This is how Naruto and Sasuke meet and possibly become friends in the future.**

**And to answer ****Kurodarkness****'s question, This story takes place when Naruto and Sasuke are eight. They just started going to the academy, so Naruto knows nothing about charka. But Sasuke could do the fire jutsu because his father taught it to him before the massacre. And remember Sasuke had more skills than Naruto when he was young. (especially in shuriken throwing.)** **Also Naruto's healing ability does not happen immediately after being hurt. It usually takes a good night sleep to fully heal. And don't worry, I like Iruka too. He has a different role in this story****J**** If you have any more questions feel free to ask and I'll be happy to answer them and Thanks to everyone who submitted a review. I appreciate it, but keep on reviewing I like reading everyone's comments.**

**Now Enjoy the Story**

The sky was gray and the rain storm was slowly coming to an end. Naruto woke to the sound of the howling wind, realizing he was on a bed. Naruto stared at the white ceiling above him for what seemed like hours to him. He slowly and carefully sat himself up on the bed, trying to avoid the pain, but surprisingly there was none. His body was no longer sore and the wound on his arm was gone. Slowly turning his head, he took in his surroundings to realize his location was very familiar. _The hospital? How did I get here? _The memories of the night before came rushing back into his mind. He hoped that it was all a nightmare, one that he would wake up from pretty soon. But he knew that he had to face the truth…it really did happen. Not only was he attacked for the hundredth time, he learned a secret about himself that would change his life forever. He tried to convince himself that Mizuki was lying to him, but deep down he knew that he wasn't. Naruto was completely lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that someone had entered the room.

"You're up! How are you feeling, Naruto?" Naruto ignored the nurse's question as he stared at his hands on his lap. The nurse walked around the bed and placed a tray of food on the table next to the bed. " Hokage-sama will be pleased to hear that you're awake." The nurse left the room leaving the boy alone with his thoughts once again.

The Hokage was in his office, but he was hidden behind a massive pile of paperwork on his desk. Sarutobi had to deal with all the problems going on in the village, starting with Mizuki. He betrayed Konoha by going against the Hokage's orders and attacking a civilian. Naruto was in the hospital once again, but luckily he was not in a critical condition and it is all thanks to Uchiha Sasuke.

Flashback:

After Genma returned to his team, they decided to split up. They would each go their own direction and meet back at the assigned spot in twenties minutes. Genma would take the left side of Konoha, Kotetsu would take the south side, Izumo would take the North side, and Mizuki would take the right. Twenty minutes later, Genma, Kotetsu, and Izumo returned to the meeting spot.

"Kotetsu, Izumo, Did you locate him?"

"He is not in the North side."

"Nor is he in the South."

"We need to keep searching. Wait..." Genma looked around to see that they were short one man. " Where is Mizuki?" Suddenly the sky lit up and a large fireball could be seen in the distance.

"That was coming from the Uchiha district." Izumo pointed out.

"Lets move out" All three men disappeared from sight.

Back where Sasuke was located, the unconscious Mizuki was all tied up. Suddenly, the three chuunins appeared next to him. Genma was shocked to see a chuunin was defeated by someone who was not even a genin.

"What the hell happened here?" Genma turned to see Sasuke and a unconscious Naruto on his back. "What happened to him?"

"That chuunin attacked and almost killed him." Sasuke said as he gestured to the unconscious blonde. Izumo took the wounded boy off the other boy's back.

"Izumo, take Uzumaki to the hospital"

"Kotetsu, you will take Mizuki. He must be interrogated."

"Hai" Kotetsu and Izumo disappeared to complete their orders. Genma turned back to Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are coming with me to see the hokage."

End of Flashback

Different emotions were going through the hokage's mind. He was relieved that Naruto was found, but was angry at the fact that he was hurt and by a Konoha shinobi no less. He was impressed by Uchiha Sasuke though. He handled the situation well and was able to take down Mizuki. _For an academy student to defeat a chuunin is a difficult task to accomplish. You are truly from the genius clan of the Uchihas, Sasuke._ Sarutobi was than interrupted by knocking on his office door.

"Enter" The nurse from the hospital entered the room.

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto is awake." A smile formed on the hokage's face. Finally some good news. Sarutobi stood up from the paperwork and grabbed the traditional hokage robe and hat that were hung up near the door.

"Please take me to his room" The hokage and the nurse left the room, and headed to the hospital.

In the hospital, Naruto was lying back in his bed. He was having a hard time sleeping because of all the things on his mind. He heard the door slide open and his blue eyes opened to see who came into his room. He was surprised to see a boy around his age walking towards the bed. Looking carefully at the boy, he noticed his familiar face. His eyes were black and the front of his hair hung down at the sides of his face while the rest of his black hair spiked up in the back. He was wearing a black shirt, white shorts, and a pair of black ninja sandals. His shirt opened wide at the collar and had the symbol of a fan on the back. Naruto recognized the boy as one of his classmates from the academy but they never spoke to each other before. The boy happened to have the best grades in the class and was very popular with the girls. But he was known throughout Konoha as Uchiha Sasuke, the soul survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre.

Naruto had overheard the nurses, earlier that day. They were saying that Sasuke was the one who saved him from Mizuki, but they didn't believe it since he was only eight-years old too. Naruto knew it was true because Sasuke was named the number one rookie of his class. His taijutsu was good and had good aim with a shuriken. Naruto was upset and grateful, he was grateful that Sasuke saved his life but he was upset that he was so weak compared to him.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke said, bringing Naruto out of his daze. Naruto responded with a slight nod.

" I guess I should just go" Sasuke turned to leave the room.

"Thank you" He stopped and turned back at the blonde boy.

"For what?"

"For saving my life. I know that it was you."

"No problem, but why were you sneaking around the Uchiha district so late at night?"

"I was running away"

"From that ninja?"

"No, from this village"

"Why?" Sasuke was confuse by the boy's answer.

"It was just too painful" Sasuke could see the hurt in the boy's eyes, so he decided to leave it at that. There was silence in the room until Naruto decided to speak.

"That jutsu you used was pretty strong"

"Not strong enough"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means that I need to get stronger so I can one day kill him for killing my clan, my brother." The last part was said in a whisper but Naruto was still able to hear it. _So the rumors were true._

"All you want is revenge. From what everyone says, your brother must be incredibly strong. You will only get yourself killed. If you want to live, you should just forget about revenge."

"SHUT UP!" Naruto was startled by the change in the boy's voice. His voice was cold and filled with anger. "You don't know anything about me to say that. You don't know what it's like to lose someone so close to you." Naruto looked down to his hands.

"No, I don't…." Naruto spoke with a serious tone in his voice causing Sasuke to stop. " I don't know what it's like to lose someone close to me, because I don't have anyone to lose. I've been alone since I was born. I have no family or friends and everyone in this village hates me. That is why I was running away." Sasuke felt ashamed for yelling at him like that. He's been alone for six months after his clan was killed, but here was a boy who was alone for his entire life. Sasuke could see the pain in Naruto's eyes, pain that he just began to feel. His pain was too much for him to handle. Sasuke put his hands in his pocket and walked to the door. The door slid open when he went to grab the handle revealing a nurse and the hokage.

"Uchiha Sasuke?! Well, it's nice to see one of Naruto's friends visiting him."

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I was just leaving" Sasuke walked out the door and down the hallway until he was no longer in sight.

"Hokage-sama!" The hokage turned to face Naruto. His blue eyes were now serious and cold. " We need to talk…privately."

**End of Chapter 4**

**Please Review**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Naruto**

**I would like to thank Kurodarkness for the very long review. First, I would like to say that taijutsu does not need chakra, it's hand to hand combat. You don't need chakra to punch someone in the face (think about Rock Lee). Second, I know the meeting between Naruto and Sasuke was short, I don't want to spoil the story for you, but lets just say that their meeting is not over just yet. Also, I was surprised that you noticed I made the nurses nice to Naruto. I have a reason for that so you are just going to find out yourself. And about Naruto and Sasuke's personalities, Naruto was a goof ball but because of the constant attacks on his life, he is depressed and acting all serious (For Now). Sasuke just lost his family so he is upset and alone, but he is only eight so he hasn't completely entered the "I am an Avenger" stage just yet. Mizuki will also be mentioned in this chapter. I hope I answered all of your questions. Enjoy the next chapter and don't forget to review.**

The nurse left the room giving Naruto his chance to speak with the Hokage.

"What do you want to talk about Naruto?" The Hokage took a seat next to Naruto's bed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto spoke with a serious tone. The hokage was confused.

" I didn't tell you what?"

"The truth" The hokage stood up from the chair and stood in front of the window watching the village below.

"Mizuki told you, didn't he?"

"Yea…he did"

"Mizuki broke a law created eight years ago when he told you, now he is going to live the rest of his life in Konoha's Correctional Facility. Naruto, you need to understand when I say that law was created to protect you. Only the people who were there the day the kyuubi attacked know the truth, that law kept the truth from the younger generation. I thought that if they didn't know, you would have the chance to make friends. Unfortunately, the children are told by their parents to stay away from you and their hate for you is passed down to them." The hokage sighed and turned to look at Naruto. "The Yondaime Hokage was the one who sealed the Kyuubi in you and that is what took his life."

" What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked after listening to the hokage's explanation.

"He used a kinjutsu, a forbidden technique known as Shiki Fuujin. It requires the user to sacrifice themselves to the Death God himself. The Yondaime wanted you to be treated like a hero and it pains me to see that his dying wish was not granted."

"You think I'm a hero?"

"Of course I do. Because of you, the village is safe. And I know you are strong enough to carry this burden and you will only get stronger. I believe that you will make a great hokage one day." Shock spread across Naruto's face. Naruto's lips suddenly curved into a small smile.

"Thank you…Old man." A grin appeared on the hokage's face. "I promise you that I'll become stronger so I could one day protect this village as Hokage."

"Alright Naruto, I'll hold you to that promise."

"I'll never go back on my word because that is my nindo, my ninja way." The old man chuckled at the boy's words.

"You're not a ninja just yet, kid. You first need to pass the genin exam."

"Ahhhh man!" Sarutobi grin widened. _It's great to have you back to your old self, Naruto._

"I also have some news for you, Naruto."

"Really?! What?" Naruto leaned in closer as he was curious in what Sarutobi was going to say next.

"I'm assigning you a personal sensei to help you become stronger."

"Wow, who is my sensei, Old man?"

"It is complicated, but your sensei is not a shinobi from the leaf. In fact, this person is not a shinobi of any village?"

"How is that possible? Everyone has to come from a village."

"Well, it is a long story. Even though he doesn't belong to a village, he is incredibly strong."

"Cool! I'm going to be Hokage in now time. So who is this person?"

"Well, he-" -Knock-Knock- The hokage was interrupted when the nurse popped her head into the room.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I need to give Naruto some tests before he is released."

"Very well" The Hokage turned back to Naruto. "I'm sorry Naruto, but we will have to continue this conversation later. I need to ask Iruka for a favor."

"Iruka-sensei? For what?"

"Well, I've decided that you need someone to watch over you so you don't get into anymore trouble. I'm sure he will be happy to take the job, after all, he was like you when he was an acadamey student."

"Really? How is that?"

"I think that is something that he should answer for you. I'll see you soon to take you back home."

"Can we still get ramen on our way home?" Sarutobi laughed.

"Of course, as long as you don't run away again."

"Hehehe, sorry about that." A large grin was plastered on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. Sarutobi started to walk out the door.

"Wait, Old man." Sarutobi turned back to face Naruto.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"When can I start my training?"

"Well, it will take at least two week until your sensei arrives. I suggest for you to prepare to leave pretty soon."

"Leave? Where am I going?"

"Oh that's right. I forgot to mention that to you. You will be traveling for awhile with your sensei, but don't worry, you will be back in time to take the genin exams. He will be training you outside the village."

"Why?"

"Well, he is a difficult person to track down, he doesn't stay in one place for too long. He wants to keep his identity concealed. I'll explain some more later, but for now I need to go." The Hokage turned to the nurse who was sitting by Naruto side checking his pulse. "Can you watch over him until I get back?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama"

"Alright, I'll be back soon" Sarutobi than took his leave and headed to the academy. The nurse than stood up and looked down at Naruto.

"Alright Naruto, everything checks out okay. Just get some rest for now. I'll check on you later." The nurse walked to the door.

"Thanks a lot, neechan!" The nurse walked out the door with a frown on her face and her own destination to go to.

At the ninja academy, and overly stressed teacher was sitting at his desk grading papers.

"Long day?" Iruka looked up at his visitor.

"Oh hokage-sama! What brings you here?"

"Well I wanted to ask you for a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Uzumaki Naruto will be leaving the village soon to train, but he will return before the genin exams."

"Naruto's grades are very low right now. If he leaves now, he will fall behind and his level will be last in his class."

"Don't worry about him Iruka, after this trip, expect some interesting things when he takes the genin exam."

"Alright, but what is this favor?"

"He will leave for this trip in about two weeks, until then I want you to watch over him." Iruka was startled.

"Me?! But I can't…I-I…"

"I chose you because he reminds me of you when you were young. Iruka, you were left as an orphan after the kyuubi attack so you understand what he is going through better than anyone. I recall when you were in the academy, you fell behind in all of your classes. You became the class clown so everyone could acknowledge you. He is just like you. The pranks he pulls on this village is not to get in trouble but is his way to be acknowledged by everyone. Do you understand, Iruka?"

"Yes I do. Don't worry Hokage-sama, I'll take good care of him for the next two weeks."

"Thank you, Iruka. Come to my office in one hour, I have some more things to discuss with you"

"Hai, hokage-sama" Sarutobi left Iruka to go back to grading papers. _I guess Naruto is not such a bad kid after all. _Speaking of Naruto, Iruka was looking at Naruto's test paper. Iruka's eyebrows twitched as he looked over his answers. _Naruto, the energy that is required to create any type of jutsu is chakra, not Catra! This kid is just unbelievable!_

Back at the hospital, Naruto was just released and met up with the third hokage. They exited the building and headed to Naruto's favorite ramen stand. The sun was finally out and the citizens of Konoha came out of hiding. The streets were busy and filled with people, the children ran rapid all over the place. It was a happy sight to see, but not to everyone.

An old man was standing in the council room, watching the streets below. He wore a scowl on his face, he clearly was not happy. Two women were standing behind him, one was a young women in a nurse uniform while the other was an elder lady wearing a scowl to match the man's.

"In two weeks?"

"Yes, Homura-sama. The hokage-sama also said that he would have Iruka-kun watch over him until then."

"Do you believe that he can locate this person, Homura?" The elder lady said to the old man.

"Sarutobi is confident that this legend is true, but I am not entirely sure, Koharu. We need to keep a close eye on this boy. If this person does exist and does agree to train Naruto, the boy will become strong, for sure."

"That might be a problem in the future. With the power this boy already holds, he could become a threat to this entire village. What should we do about this, Homura?"

"The only thing that we can do. We will have one of Danzo's root members secretly watch over the boy for the next two weeks. We will just have to wait and see what happens after that." Homura turned to the nurse standing behind him.

"Your services are no longer needed, return to your duties at the hospital. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Homura-sama." The nurse walked out of the room leaving Homura and Koharu alone. Homura looked back at the window. _I need to keep my eyes on you as well, Sarutobi._

**End of Chapter 5**

**I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Review what you think about this chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto**

**Author's note:**

**Again I would like to thank everyone for the reviews especially Kurodarkness. Thank you for pointing out my mistake, I didn't realize I made Iruka younger. But I fixed it in the last chapter. For all of the readers, I would like to point out that Iruka was eleven years old when he lost his parents so he is actually nineteen in this story. I would like to thank Kurodarkness for the suggestion to add more detail to my story. I will do my best with that and I will try to make my chapters longer. Also, you will all have to wait and see what happens between Naruto and Sasuke yourselves (No Yaoi). For the people who don't know who Homura and Koharu are, they are two elders of Konoha's council. They are the ones who suggested for Jiraiya to take the role of Hokage after Sarutobi died but he turned them down and suggested Tsunade instead. (From the real story line) Please Enjoy this next chapter and write reviews. I accept all types of reviews (compliments, suggestions, corrections, and even complaints). If there is any thing that needs to be corrected in the story, please let me know. Thank you! **

**P.S. If any of you would like me to add couples into the story please let me know what couple you would like. The couple with the highest vote will be added to the story. Please no yaoi, I don't really like the idea of a Naruto/Sasuke boyfriend relationship (no offence to anyone who does) Thanks again!**

**Now, on with the story. **

After several dozen bowls of miso pork ramen and draining the Third Hokage's wallet dry (AN: Yes, even the Hokage needs to pay for stuff from time to time), Naruto was escorted back to his home. Naruto lived in a old, run down building on the far side of the village for as long as he could remember. It was the only apartment that the hokage could give him. Every other landlord refused to give Naruto a room, but his current landlord was nice enough to give him a room because no one else would live there. There were numerous holes and cracks covered by planks of wood along the walls. The paint was chipping and there was never any hot water. The floor boards squeaked as Naruto and Sarutobi made their way up the stairs to the apartment room. Naruto lived in a room with a balcony on the top floor of the building, courtesy of the third hokage. When they finally reached Naruto's room door, he pulled out a key out of his pants pocket. Naruto placed the key into the hole and turned the handle as the nindog key chain swung side to side( AN: Did anyone ever notice that Naruto has a key chain of Pakkun in the anime?). The door did not budge. _Great, the door is stuck again._ Naruto suddenly forced his small body against the door as hard as he could. The door broke off the hinges and fell to the floor, breaking into several pieces (_Naruto isn't that strong yet, the door is just really old)._

"Oh no! Now the owner is going to kick me out for sure!" Naruto was panicking as he looked down at the shattered door.

"Naruto, I think that is the last thing you should worry about." Naruto turned to look at the Hokage in confusion. The hokage's eyes were focused on something else. Naruto turned around and his jaw dropped to the floor. His room was completely destroyed. The once small bedroom was now covered in water. There was about three inches of water on the floor that reached up to the small step that the hokage and Naruto were standing on. (AN: I put a step in Naruto's apartment, so the entire floor is flooded except for that step.) The hokage looked up at the ceiling to see it was leaking. A huge, brown water stain covered parts of the ceiling while the other parts crumbled away due to the rain. All of Naruto's possessions were water damaged and none of it could be saved.

"That rain storm did a number on your room. I'm sorry Naruto, but we need to find you a new place to stay. I will inform the landlord of this and I will try to get this fixed." Naruto wasn't listening to Sarutobi's words, his face hardened at the sight of his one bedroom apartment. The hokage watched Naruto as he stepped into the ankle-high water, shivering as the cold water touched his bare ankles. He made his way around the room surveying the damage. _Nothing, There is nothing left. It's all ruined. _Naruto grabbed a wet scroll that was floating next to his feet. It was a training scroll given to him by the hokage on his birthday. It consisted of the basics on how to be a good ninja and several training methods, but now the writing on the scroll was smudged and was no longer legible. It used to be one of Naruto's most prized possessions because it was his first step to becoming a great shinobi and it was the only present he got on his eighth birthday, but now it was just a useless piece of parchment. The anger bottled up in Naruto was rising fast, and he could no longer take it. He threw the scroll with all his might at the wall and yelled from the top of his lungs. He fell to his knees and the water on the floor splashed all over his tattered clothes. His arms fell limp by his sides as he stared at down at the wet floor, he could see his reflection looking back at him. He noticed that he was completely soaked and his breathing was heavy, but that was not what bothered him the most. Those eyes…his eyes, they were no longer the bright blue eyes that he was familiar with, instead they looked so lifeless and cold. _Why is that person me? Why must I suffer? _Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to look up from his reflection. The hokage was now standing next to him with a stern look in his eyes.

"Why does this happen to me? Does kami despise me this much to take away my home?" Naruto said in a whisper as he turned back to his reflection.

"Naruto, this is just some bad luck, that's all. We can find you a temporary home until this mess is rebuilt. Naruto, you can't think of this as punishment, you haven't done anything wrong. The people in this village are still upset for losing loved ones during the kyuubi attack, but they are being ignorant and are blaming you for what that demon did. I do not want you to listen to their words, all you can do is move forward with your life while they are still stuck in the past." Sarutobi held his hand towards Naruto. " Come on, we shouldn't stay here anymore. We will go buy you some new belongings and I will see what I can do about a temporary place to live." Naruto nodded in agreement and took the Hokage's hand. They walked out of the water and outside the room. Naruto's clothes were soaked and was shivering due to the cold. The hokage took off his robe and wrapped it around the blonde boy. Naruto was surprised to be wearing the traditional hokage robes, they were really long and dragged on the floor behind him.

"I guess you are just going to have to grow into it when you become hokage." Sarutobi patted the boy on the head. Naruto wore a goofy smile on his face and Sarutobi chuckled at the him.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Naruto stopped grinning and looked up at the hokage, but his eye sight was covered when the hokage placed his hat on top of Naruto's head. Now Naruto was completely shocked.

" You can't wear the robe without the hat, Am I right Naruto?" The grin appeared on Naruto's face once again.

"Right, old man! And I can't wait until I'm officially hokage and these will really belong to me!" The hokage smiled proudly at Naruto. _And I can't wait for the day to pass these on to you when you accomplish your goal. I have faith that you will become a great shinobi for this village, Naruto._

The Sandaime hokage and the kyuubi jinchuuriki made their way through the bustling streets of Konoha. The sun was now shining bright and the hokage mountain glistened as the light reflected of the stone. Naruto looked up at the mountain._ My face will be up there someday, and it will be a face that will be respected and acknowledged as a hero. _Naruto turned around to see that the hokage was still walking ahead.

"Hey Old man! Wait up!" Naruto ran to catch up with the hokage, his feet beating against the paved road and the hokage robes trailed behind him. _Wow! That old man is fast for his age._ Naruto felt like he was flying down the path as the wind blew in his face. He closed his eyes as he felt the warm sun on his skin and the cool wind blowing through his golden locks. It felt nice,…so nice that he didn't notice the boy walking towards him. The other boy had his hands in his pocket and his gaze at his feet. They didn't know what hit them when they collided into each other. Naruto fell hard onto the floor while the other boy did the same.

"Owwwwww!" Naruto picked himself onto the floor and saw the hokage was walking towards him.

"Naruto, are you alright?!" The hokage was completely concerned for the boy's well being.

"Yea, I bumped into someone" Remembering about the other boy, Naruto turned to face the boy. " I'm really sorry!" The other boy was dusting the dirt off his pants.

"Just watch where your going, dobe!" The boy looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. "Naruto?!" Naruto wore a shocked expression on his face when he realized who he ran into.

"Sasuke?!"

"Naruto! What are you doing out of the hospital so soon? The nurse said that you had several broken ribs and a broken arm!"

"U-uh, I guess I'm just a fast healer."

"But you were admitted into the hospital last night, no one can heal that fast!"

"…" Naruto was speechless. When he was released from the hospital, the hokage explained to Naruto how he could heal at such an extraordinary rate. He was told that his chakra was merging with the kyuubi's and that was giving him access to the fox's healing abilities, but he couldn't tell Sasuke that. What would happen if he told Sasuke about the Kyuubi? He was afraid that Sasuke would hate him and call him a monster like how the other villagers do. No, he was not going to take that risk, he did not want to be hated in anyone else's eyes. Naruto tried to think of a believable excuse he could use to get Sasuke off his case, but he was coming up with nothing. Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to give him an explanation.

"Well…it's because…umm-"

"Because Konoha has some of the finest doctors in the entire fire country" The hokage suddenly interrupted, and Naruto sighed in relief. Sasuke gave them a questionable look before shrugging it off. " It is nice to see you again, Uchiha Sasuke! What have you been doing on a fine day like this?" The hokage said quickly to change the subject. He, too, wanted to keep the Kyuubi a secret from Naruto's classmate.

"I was training earlier, but now I am heading home." Sasuke said in a apathetic tone. Suddenly the hokage had an idea. He was aware that Sasuke was still living in the Uchiha district. The young Uchiha was living alone in that district after his family was killed and when the hokage offered him a new apartment, he refused. He said that even though his family was gone, he couldn't leave his home. The boy lived in a very large home, but now it was empty and had plenty of rooms to spare. Naruto could live with him for the next two weeks while his apartment is being rebuilt. Besides, both boys have been alone for a long time and they could really use a friend.

"Sasuke, I would like to ask you for a favor."

"Hn"

"Naruto's apartment was destroyed in the rain and he needs a place to stay." Sasuke frowned when he realized where this was going.

"Why don't you find him a new apartment to live in?" Sasuke said before the hokage could finish his sentence.

"I thought of that, but Naruto is not on friendly terms with some of the villagers and they would refuse to give him a room."

"_Probably from all those stupid pranks that dobe does." _Sasuke thought to himself as he looked back at Naruto. Naruto wasn't paying attention to the conversation, he was too busy playing with the robes he was wearing. Sasuke sighed and looked back at the hokage.

"What does this have to do with me?" Sasuke said trying to sound oblivious to the hokage's idea.

"Can you let him live with you for now?" Sasuke grunted at the old man's question.

"Why me?"

"Well, you two are very similar and I was hoping that you two could get to know each other better. It would make me feel better if Naruto could make a friend." Hokage noticed that Sasuke was irritated by his explanation and at this rate he would refuse to help. " Please, it will only be for the next two weeks." Sasuke looked at him confused.

" Two weeks? Will his apartment be rebuilt in that time?"

"No, Naruto is leaving on a trip in two weeks and won't return for awhile. Can you just give him a place to stay until then? Sasuke sighed in defeat, even if he said no, the hokage would just force him to say yes.

"Fine, he can stay at my house."

"Good, I will drop Naruto by later, but for now we need to pick up a few more things." The hokage turned back to Naruto. "Naruto, you will be living with Sasuke. Is that okay with you?" Naruto hesitated and was about to protest but nodded in agreement instead. "Alright, I still need to discuss some things with you, then I will take you to Sasuke's house. We also need to finish shopping for some new clothes for you." Sarutobi turned back to Sasuke. " We will see you later, enjoy the rest of your day." The hokage left with Naruto trailing behind him. Sasuke watched them as they walked down the street. Sasuke began to walk in the direction of his home with one thought on his mind. _If I had trained for a little bit longer, than I could of avoided this situation._

**End of Chapter 6**

**Please leave a review. Chapter 7 will be up soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto**

**Author's Note:**** I appreciate the great reviews from some of my readers and it's makes me happy to see that someone is actually reading this story. I have more questions from Kurodarkness which I will be happy to answer. First, when the hokage asked if Naruto was alright, he didn't know what happened. He was told by Naruto that he bumped into someone and they didn't know who it was. Besides, I don't think Sasuke needs anymore special treatment, after all that's what the Sasuke Fan Club is for. The hokage is thankful that he saved Naruto but he doesn't think of Sasuke as some all mighty god. We don't want the young Uchiha to get big headed now, do we? The hokage sees Sasuke for what he is, a child that will become strong shinobi like everyone else. Second, I am not revealing anything about Naruto's training or what he does on his travels. I'm keeping everything a secret, so your going to have to wait to find out! (I am very evil so get used to it!) I will say that the sand siblings will definitely be in this story, Gaara is one of my favorite characters. If I do add any couples, they won't show until later in the story. That should answer everything (I think). Enjoy the story and please review. I would really, really, really appreciate it. Reviews tell me that people are reading my story, and if there are no reviews, then there are no readers, and no more readers means no more story.**

**Enjoy the chapter**

Naruto was currently browsing through clothing racks in a local store, but he could not shake the uneasy feeling in his gut. From the moment he walked into the store, the store keeper watched the poor boy with a look of disgust. It was always the same thing every time he walked into a store. Store owners would either watch him carefully, refuse to let him buy anything, or kick him out of the store immediately. Luckily, this store keeper chose the first option. The only store that never gave Naruto this type of problem was Ichiraku ramen stand and it was because Naruto was their best costumer. Naruto tried not to let the store keeper's gaze of hatred towards him stop him from buying some new clothes. He would rarely shop for clothes so he could avoid these situations, but he had no other choice because the only clothes he had left were the ones he wore on his back. Well at least he could get some better clothes than he usually wore. His clothes were usually ragged pieces of cloth which consisted of holes and rips. He did not have the money to buy new clothes and every time he received money from the hokage, he used it to buy food instead. Naruto was never really concerned about what he wore, he was too busy trying to survive. Now, Naruto was given this chance to get some new clothes and he decided not to let this opportunity pass him by. He looked over the clothes that were nicely hung on the racks, there were so many different colors and sizes that he didn't know what to pick. He suddenly stopped to look over something that caught his attention. It was a simple black jacket but the thing that caught his eye was the design on the back of the jacket. It wasn't anything flashy or special, but Naruto seemed attracted to the design. The design was a large red spiral on the back of the jacket and the jacket itself had a red streak going down each sleeve. It was perfect and just his size, Naruto smiled at his new discovery. But that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention. For some reason, there were other items in the store with the same symbol including a variety of accessories. Naruto studied each item carefully but suddenly froze in fear. He felt a large amount of killing intent focused at the back of his head and could hear the heavy breathing of the figure behind him. Naruto slowly turned his head to see the store keeper was no longer behind the counter but right behind him instead. The man watched the boy shop and could not help but notice that he was eyeing some of the more expensive clothes in the store.

"You better have a lot of money if your planning on buying any of that." The man spoke with a harsh tone towards the blonde haired boy.

"N-No, I was just looking." Naruto said nervously trying to avoid eye contact with the man.

"Hurry up and get out, you brat! You are scaring away my customers and don't you dare try anything shifty because I'm watching you! I swear, the hokage should of just-"

"Just what?" The hokage interrupted the store keeper before he could finish his sentence. The man was now feeling uneasy as the hokage seemed to appear out of nowhere and was now walking towards him.

" H-Hokage-sama! I-I was…just helping this bra- I-I mean boy with his shopping!" he was now sweating nervously.

" Good, because it looks like Naruto is ready to purchase something." The man narrowed his eyes towards the boy before walking back to the counter. The hokage looked back at Naruto. " Pick whatever you like, it's all on me." Naruto turned back towards the clothing rack and a small smile formed on his face.

Naruto walked out of the store with several bags in his hands and was now wearing his newly purchased wardrobe. He had purchased several things including the items with the spiral design. He was wearing the black jacket with a red t-shirt underneath and a pair of black sweatpants to match. The pants also had red stripes on each side and he was also sporting a pair of black ninja sandals on his feet. The jacket was zipped open so the cool afternoon breeze could brush Naruto's chest. The Hokage was following behind him after he paid the scowling store clerk for the clothes. The hokage had informed Naruto that Iruka was waiting for them at the tower and that he needed to discuss some more details with him before taking him to the Uchiha residence. They made their way to the hokage's office to find Iruka waiting patiently for them by the window.

"Good Evening, Iruka" The hokage said in a calm manner. The hokage walked into the room and around his desk.

"Good Evening to you too, Hokage-sama" Iruka took a seat on a chair as the hokage sat at his desk.

"Hi Iruka-sensei!" Naruto decided to make his presence known as well. Iruka looked at Naruto who was still standing by the door.

"Hello Naruto, I see you changed your look!" Iruka said as he noticed Naruto's change in wardrobe and the bags in his hands.

"Yea, the old man bought me some new clothes." Iruka sighed at Naruto's name for the third hokage.

"Naruto, what did I tell you about calling the hokage 'old man'. You need to be more respectful" Naruto was now rubbing his head with a sheepish grin on his face.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei! I guess I just forgot" Iruka sighed in frustration. How could he forget, he reminds him almost everyday.

"It's quite all right, Iruka. I do not mind at all, but I would like to get down to business now. Mizuki is now paying for his crimes against a konoha civilian and breaking a law that was created eight years ago." Iruka eyes widened in shock. Is the hokage talking about _that _law?

"Hokage-sama, you don't mean…"

"Yes Iruka. The law created after the kyuubi incident." Iruka looked at Naruto, his head was down and his eyes were hidden beneath his hair. _Naruto knows the truth! How is he suppose to deal with it now? The poor boy has been through a lot and it seems to just get worst. _Iruka kneeled next to the boy to try and comfort him.

"Naruto, knowing the truth might be overwhelming but I will always be here to help you" Naruto clenched his fists and looked up to Iruka. His eyes were now serious as he looked deep into Iruka's eyes. Iruka stepped back, never in his life has he seen Naruto look like this.

"The truth is not going to stop me from being the greatest, Iruka-sensei! I will become stronger and neither the kyuubi nor the villagers are going to stand in my way." Iruka was amazed by Naruto's words. He couldn't help but smile and pat the boy on the head. Naruto looked surprised at his academy teacher.

" I know you will, Naruto!" Naruto just smiled back at his sensei's comment. The hokage decided to interrupt so he could continue.

"Even though Naruto knows that he harbors the kyuubi, that won't protect him from any more attacks on his life. I want you to watch over him for the next two weeks but there has been a change in plans."

" And what is that?"

"Well, Naruto's home was destroyed due to the heavy rain pour these last couple of days."

"You want him to stay at my house, is that right?"

" Actually no, I have found a different place for him to stay for awhile. He will be staying at the home of Uchiha Sasuke."

"What!? Do you think that is wise, Hokage-sama? I mean, Sasuke is still dealing with the loss of his family and Naruto has just learned about the kyuubi. I think they just want to be left alone."

"That is exactly the reason why I've decided to place them together under the same roof. Sasuke's family was killed and Naruto grew up with no parents. They have been alone for long enough. It is time they learned how to make a new friend and it is because of the pain they share, I believe they can understand one another. And because Naruto will be staying with the Uchiha, I have decided that you will live closer to them to keep a better eye on him, temporarily of course."

"What do you have in mind?"

"You will be living with him at Sasuke's home. There is plenty of room for another person."

" I don't think Sasuke would agree to this."

"That's why I suggest you train them both during your stay. Sasuke will not decline the offer of being trained. His mind is bent on getting revenge on his brother so he wants to become stronger. Even though I disagree with Sasuke's decision, it guarantees that he won't refuse my offer. Naruto also needs to learn basic chakra control, taijutsu and ninjutsu from the academy. He needs to have some knowledge when his sensei arrives to train him."

"That reminds me, who is Naruto's sensei?"

"I'm sorry Iruka, but I must keep his identity confidential. I can only share that information with Naruto." Naruto, who was listening intently to the conversation, was now curious over this information.

"Why have you chosen someone who is a complete enigma to train a konoha shinobi? By the way it sounds, I don't think we can trust him."

"I have chosen this person because of his knowledge and power. He is probably the only person who could train someone who is…special like Naruto. And it is because of his knowledge and power that he keeps his identity a secret. He cannot afford to let the wrong person discover his existence, he will be hunted like an animal." Iruka was confused by the third's last statement.

"What do you mean by hunted?"

"There are many people who have been corrupted by power and would do anything for it. There has been some, for example, that have come from this very village." Iruka knew who the hokage was taking about. About six months ago, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, assassinated his own clan and unlocked a stronger version of his kekei genki, the Sharingan. A better example, however, was the third's very own student, Orochimaru. He was apart of Sarutobi's genin team and was one of the legendary three Sanin, the elite ninja of Konoha. He betrayed the village in order to gain more knowledge and ninjutsus. He was feared for his vast knowledge of kinjutsus and his inhumane experiments to gain immortality. Iruka knew that if there was a way to gain power than people like Orochimaru would be after it. _That explains what the hokage means by hunted. This person doesn't want someone who is power-hungry to locate him. But why would someone like this be willing to train Naruto? He would be putting himself in danger of being discovered._ Before Iruka could ask, the hokage spoke again as if he knew what Iruka was thinking.

"This person has a connection to the kyuubi, but I am not sure what it is. I do know that he will be more than willing to train Naruto."

"Why is that?"

"I can't really explain it, it's just a feeling" Iruka was completely shocked.

"So, you are just following your instincts! Do you even know if this person will come?!" Sarutobi stood up from his desk.

"Do not doubt my judgment, Iruka!"

"I'm sorry, hokage-sama. I didn't mean to. It's just…"

"Have faith in your hokage, Iruka. I know what I am doing." Sarutobi walked around the desk and towards the door. " I will bring Naruto over to Sasuke's home shortly. Can you take his belongings over there now and explain the situation to Sasuke?"

"Hai Hokage-sama" Iruka took the bags from Naruto's hands.

"Come Naruto, there is still one more thing we need to do." Naruto followed the hokage out of the room and Iruka disappeared in a puff of smoke. The hokage led Naruto down a hallway that he had never been down before, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. The conversation between the hokage and Iruka was going through his mind, some parts kept on repeating themselves over and over. Especially the part about his unknown sensei and what the hokage said about the pain he shares with Sasuke. He never realized how similar he was to Sasuke now that his family was killed. Naruto was too busy in his thoughts that he didn't realize that the hokage was leading him into an unfamiliar part of the tower. After ten minutes of walking, they stood in front of a large metal door deep inside the tower.

"Naruto, we are below the tower. This part of the building is unknown to many so I need you to keep this a secret." Naruto nodded in agreement. He looked back at the metal door and noticed that it didn't have a door handle. Instead, a strange symbol was painted on the door in red ink.

"That is a seal, Naruto. This room is forbidden for anyone to enter except the hokage. I made the seal myself so I am the only one that can remove it." Sarutobi went through a dozen hand seals before stopping. He placed his hands on the center of the seal.

"Kai" Naruto watched in amazement as the red ink began to glow. The red symbols began to spin in a circle slowly until they faded away. The door suddenly swung open revealing a large room filled with different artifacts. Bookshelves filled with over a thousand books and scrolls lined the walls. Weapons and tools were displayed in the middle of the room.

"These items were passed down by the previous hokages and are very sacred. Some of these items date back to the First hokage's time, when he first founded this hidden village." The hokage made his way across the room to a door on the other side. Naruto trailed slowly behind him as he looked over each artifact. He was amazed by the numerous weapons that were used by the previous hokages. Some weapons had the description labeled underneath like the Nindaime's raijin sword while others were labeled by which hokage it belonged to like a strange kunai with a symbol on the handle used by the Yondaime hokage. ( AN: I know the Nindaime's raijin sword is stolen by Idate and is given to Aoi in the Tea Country Arc, but that is not going to happen in this story because there really is no point. If you don't know what kunai I am talking about than you need to read Kakashi's Gaiden.)

The hokage and Naruto entered the other door only to reveal a smaller room. The room was bare except a smaller book shelf with a few scrolls and a desk. The hokage looked over the dust covered scrolls before pulling one out. The scroll was smaller compared to the others but had a silver lining on each side. Another red seal was placed on the scroll but the symbols were a little different. The hokage began to perform several hand seals and suddenly bit his thumb. Sarutobi pressed his bloody finger against the seal and it once again began to glow before fading away. Sarutobi walked over to the desk and rolled the scroll open. The scroll contained an even more complex seal inside. Naruto watched silently as the hokage took his bloody thumb and drew some more symbols onto the scroll. When he finished he looked over to Naruto.

"Naruto, bite your thumb and press the blood against each finger." Naruto did what he said until each of his fingers on his right hand was marked with blood. " Now press your fingers onto the center of the seal." (AN: This is what Naruto did when signing the toad summoning contract in the anime, but did not sign his name.) As soon as Naruto's blood was pressed onto the scroll, the seal began to glow, but this time, the symbols came off the paper. The symbols spun violently above their heads until it came to a sudden stop. The seal than gave off a large shock wave and disappeared without a trace. Naruto, who fell over from the shock wave, was now completely speechless. The hokage helped him back to his feet, he spoke when he was able to find his voice again.

"W-What was that?!"

"That was a summoning scroll, but not like a regular summoning scroll. It is different from the contracts made with certain animals to summon them during combat. It was given to me by the person who will become your sensei."

"And who is my sensei?"

"He is a powerful person who saved my life a long time ago. When I was young I was the student of the Shodaime and Nindaime hokage, it occurred when they were still alive. They sent me by myself on a simple mission to investigate. During that time, there were rumors that Iwagakure, the hidden stone village, was building their military forces. I was to gather information to see if they were a threat, which they became later on during the great ninja war. The mission was supposed to be easy but I didn't expect to be ambushed by several elite shinobi from the Iwa. I was losing a lot of blood and was near death, but luckily, someone saved me. He was standing over me, performing medical ninjutsu on my body. I don't know what he looks like because his face was hidden under his cloak, but when he told me his name, I knew exactly who he was. I promised him that I wouldn't reveal his existence and he gave me that scroll and told me if I ever needed his assistance, I could use it to summon him. I kept the scroll ever since and no one knows about it except you. I would of summoned him long ago during the war with Iwa but I didn't want to break my promise by revealing him to the world. But now that he has been summoned, he should arrive in a couple of weeks or sooner."

"Who is this guy?"

"He is a ninja legend. When I was a child, I was told a story by the Second hokage of a powerful man. This man was around before Konoha and most of the other hidden villages were found. The man is known as a legend to every ninja who has heard the tale, but I know it is real. In the legend, it is said that he created over a million jutsus and his knowledge was like non other. He was also the creator of the animal summoning contracts and has the first and strongest kekei genki. It is the legend of The Garyuu, the one who summoned a dragon and lit the morning sky. I do not know what the saying means, but the day I met him, I could feel his power radiate off his body. It was truly something incredible." Naruto was completely speechless. He heard the stories of how powerful the previous hokages were but it was nothing compared to this man. The thought of being trained by this man was exciting, but Naruto couldn't help but think that there was more to this man than everyone thinks. Not everything is what it seems, he of all people knew that; after all, he was an eight year old boy and the container of the strongest demon in the world.

"It is time to go Naruto. We should be heading towards Sasuke's house." The hokage rolled up the scroll on the table and placed it back on the shelf. " Naruto, you need to promise me that you will not tell anyone of this."

"I promise"

"Good, lets go." The hokage and Naruto left the room and the red seal appeared back on the metal door. They made their way out of the tower and back through the streets of Konoha. Naruto looked up at the sky and saw the sun was now setting. _I wonder what that saying means? The one who summoned a dragon and lit the morning sky._ Naruto yawned as he watched the sun set. _Today has been very interesting and so is this Garyuu. I can't wait for the day that I can meet this legend. _

**End of Chapter 7**

**Garyuu****- great man / exceptional person hidden among the masses / reclining dragon**

**I hope you liked this chapter!**

**Please Review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Naruto!**

**I am sorry I took long to update, but it is hard for me to find some time to type up the chapters, so please be patient with me. I have gotten some more great reviews, but I would like to ask the people who are only reading my story, to leave a review once in awhile. Thanks to everyone else who did. I am sorry to everyone who were confused about the first part in the last chapter. When Naruto goes into the store, the hokage is with him, he just goes unnoticed because the store owner is too busy glaring at Naruto. When the hokage does appear, he was in the store, but he was on the other side. It's like when you go shopping with a friend, you go down one aisle and they go down another, but you are still in the same store. I hope I explained it well enough. Also the summoning scroll will be explained later on in the story when things make more sense. Please enjoy the story and don't forget to review, Thank you.**

**Enjoy!**

The sun was now gone and replaced by a crescent moon that illuminated the dark skies. The hokage and Naruto finally reached the residence of one Uchiha Sasuke, deep in the Uchiha district. The third knocked on the sliding door and listened to the footsteps on the other side. The door slid open to reveal the black haired boy.

"Good evening, Sasuke."

"Come in, Iruka is waiting inside." Sasuke looked over to the young blonde boy next to the hokage. "Hey Naruto, what's with the new wardrobe?" Sasuke said as he examined the black and red jacket on Naruto's back.

"I thought I could use a new look, don't you think?"

"Whatever" Sasuke led them down the hallway to a living room where Iruka sat patiently on the chair. After greeting each other, everyone took a seat around the room. The room was quite cozy as the shadows from the fireplace danced along the walls. Sasuke picked up a small log that sat in the corner and walked over to the fireplace. He threw the wood into the flame and the embers jumped up from the sudden contact. The room was silent except for the cracking bark as the wood slowly burned. The hokage looked over to Iruka and then back to Sasuke.

"I guess that Iruka has already explained everything to you"

"Yea, he did" Sasuke watched the flames flicker as the wood cracked.

"Iruka, I want you to train these boys as much as possible so they can be two of Konoha's finest shinobi." The hokage looked over to Naruto's direction. "Naruto, I expect you to train hard and to try your best in the academy, you too, Sasuke." They both nodded in agreement. "So I'll just leave you three to settle in. It's getting late and I need to return to my office." Sarutobi looked back to Naruto. "Naruto, you should get some rest, you had a long day today. I will stop by tomorrow to see how everyone is doing. Good night." After saying their goodbyes, Naruto looked over to Sasuke and Iruka did the same. Sasuke sighed when he noticed they were both staring at him.

"I'll take you to your rooms." They stood up and followed Sasuke down the hallway. They stopped at the first door and Sasuke slid open the door. Inside was a large bedroom with a king sized bed, a large dresser, and a small bookshelf along the right wall. "Alright, this will be your room Iruka. Make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you, Sasuke. I will see you two in the morning to start your training, Good night" Iruka entered the room and slid the door closed. Sasuke continued down the hall way with Naruto trailing behind him. They stopped once again and Sasuke slid open the door. The room was like Iruka's except smaller.

"You can stay in here. I already put your clothes over there." He pointed to the corner of the room to a group of bags with his newly purchased clothes inside. Sasuke turned out of the door and headed down the hallway disappearing into the shadows. Naruto closed the door and walked over to the bed. He took off his jacket and placed it on the dresser and slipped under the covers of the bed. He stared up at the ceiling as he replayed that day's events in his head. The hokage was right, he did have a long day. He woke up this morning in a hospital bed after being attacked by the traitor, Mizuki. His apartment was destroyed in the rain along with all of his belongings. He bought some new clothes. He had to press is hand in blood on a strange scroll and learned that his sensei is some type of all powerful being. He has to stay at Sasuke's house for a couple of days. And to top it all off, the most powerful demon in existence is sealed inside him. The more he thought about the kyuubi, he thought about how all of the villagers hated him, how he was attacked constantly, how he was shunned by almost everyone in the village and it was because of something he had no control over. He was not the demon so why does he have to be treated like one. Naruto grew angrier by the second and all of his anger was directed towards the monster sealed inside him_. It's because of that stupid fox my life is like this. It is all his fault. If I ever see that damn fox, I'm going to kick his ass._ After some more violent threats, the small boy finally fell asleep.

The low growling sound reached Naruto's ears and rang inside his head causing him to open his eyes. Fear struck him when realizing that his surrounding were different from when he went to sleep. He was now standing in what looked like a sewer without the sewer water or smell.

"Where am I? What is going on? Naruto began to panic but was startled when the growling grew louder into a beastly roar and the sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the abandoned hallways. Naruto's heart was racing and telling him to turn around but his body was acting on it's own and made it's way down the sewer catacombs. The hallway came to an end with a flash of light causing Naruto to shield his eyes. Once the light dissipated, Naruto reopened his eyes to see he was in the middle of a large room. The ceiling must have been over a hundred feet high and iron bars lined the wall across from Naruto. A tag was placed on the cage door with the kanji for _seal _written on it to keep whatever inside locked up. The roars and metal clashing sounds were replaced with a deep, hallow laughter that sent a chill up Naruto's spine. His eyes widened in fear when a pair of red slitted eyes appeared behind the cage bars. The eyes looked down on Naruto and the laughter came to a stop.

**"Child, come closer."** The deep voice was hypnotizing and Naruto couldn't help but obey. Naruto stepped closer to the cage, suddenly a great pair of claws protruded out from between the bars that could of decapitated Naruto with a single sweep. Naruto fell to the floor, screaming in fear. The sound of the claws hitting the metal echoed throughout the room along with the chilling sound of laughter. He tried to back away as fast as he could but he was being pulled back. He looked at his foot to see a blood colored tail coming out of the bars and wrapping around his leg and pulling him closer to the cage. Naruto felt tears run down his face as he tried to claw the floor beneath him. He was suddenly lifted off the ground and dangling in midair by his foot. The tail twisted around to face the boy back at the cage.

**"What happened to all that talk about kicking my ass? Are you afraid of me boy?"** The voice began to laugh again but now the monster's sharp fangs were visible and blood thirsty. Naruto now realized the identity of the beast in front of him.

_"Y-You're the demon sealed inside me, the kyuubi. But how?"_

**"You are in your own mind because I brought you here. I wanted to see the weak human who dares to challenge me. What's the matter boy, too afraid?"** Naruto could feel the grip on his leg tighten and the blood rush to his head. "**Curse that Yondaime hokage for sealing me inside a weak coward like you. When I am free from this damn prison, I will enjoy eating you!"** The fox began to laugh again and his tail released Naruto's leg. Naruto fell to the floor hard and managed to slowly get up again. he watched as the kyuubi continued laughing which only angered Naruto. He clenched his hands into fists and stared down at the ground. He spoke in a soft tone that the fox stopped laughing to hear what he was saying. Naruto lifted his head and began to yell at the demon.

_"I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BECOME STRONG!" _Naruto's eyes were fierce with determination. _" I am not afraid."_ he said once again in a low tone. The kyuubi looked at the boy to search for any signs of fear, but to his surprised there were none. To say the least, the fox was impressed with the eight-year old's sudden change in attitude and determination.

**"I will say this kid, you do have guts. But guts is not going to make you stronger, and if you die, I'll die."**

_" Is that because you are attached to me by the seal?"_

**"Well, looks like you are smarter than you look, but yes. This seal was created by that damn man you call yondaime to cage me in your weak human body. Unfortunately for him, my power is too great to be killed."**

_"If your power is really that strong than lend me your power when I need it."_

**"Why would I give demonic power to an undeserving brat like you?!"**

_"Like you said before, if I die, you die. As long as you are in my body than lend me your power as rent." _The kyuubi began to laugh.

**"Very well." **Red spiraling chakra slipped out from underneath the bars and circled around Naruto. The chakra grip got tighter and the power was unbearable. Naruto winced and cried out in pain. He heard the deep laughter of the kyuubi before it stopped to speak again. **"We will see each other again soon." **Naruto eyes opened and he shot up on the bed. He was covered in sweat and his golden mane fell over his face. His body looked fine but it felt different somehow. His heart was racing at an unbelievable rate and he could feel his new found power coursing through his veins. He got up from his bed and walked over to the mirror. His eyes were no longer the friendly blue eyes he was familiar with. His eyes were now red with black slits in the center, giving him a fierce look. His whisker marks on each cheek were long and dark and his teeth were sharp to a point. _What the hell did that fox do to me? Could this be just a dream?_ Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, he could feel his heart rate slowly decreasing. When the beating was slow and steady, he reopened his eyes. He eyes met the familiar blue eyes once again and his whiskers and teeth returned to normal as well. He sighed in relief and walked over to the door. He slid it open quietly to avoid waking the others, and walked into the halls and into the living room.

The fire died out a long time ago and the room was now cold. He walked over to the mantle of the fireplace and picked up a lone picture frame and brought it up to his face. It was a picture of Sasuke and three other people who Naruto guessed was his family. Sasuke was sitting in the middle and was actually smiling. A man and women stood behind him who must have been his parents. His mother looked beautiful in a black dress and had a smile on her face. His father had a serious look on his face and was wearing a uniform with the words konoha police sown onto the sleeve. The third person, who was standing next to Sasuke, had his face torn out from the picture. Naruto guessed that the third person must have been Sasuke's older brother. Naruto couldn't blame Sasuke for tearing the picture, after all his brother did kill his entire family. After placing the picture back, Naruto walked over to the window which was slightly opened. The cool wind ran through his golden locks. The sky was dark and the moon and stars shined bright. It was absolutely beautiful. In one quick leap, Naruto jumped out of the window and climbed up onto the roof to clear his head.

_His heart was pounding as he ran for his life through the abandoned streets. Tears streamed down his face as he screamed._

_"Don't kill me. I don't want to die." Images of his family appeared in his head, each one of them dead. His mother and father were gone along with his entire village. He turned the corner only to see him standing in front of him. The boy came to a complete stop as he panted for air. "Please…don't kill me Itachi."_

_"You are not even worth killing, Sasuke." The tall figure turned to leave before speaking again. "If you want to kill me, despise me, hate me, and live in an unsightly way... Run, and cling to life, and then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me." He began to walk away. "You are also capable of unlocking the Mangekyo Sharingan. But,…in order to do so, you must kill…your best friend."_

"NOOO!" Sasuke's eyes shut open and his body jumped out of his bed. His breathing was heavy and beads of sweat rolled down his face. _Another bad dream? _Sasuke sighed and laid his head back onto the pillow. They seemed to come more frequently almost to the point where he would have these dreams every night. It was always the same thing over and over again. It was bad enough that he had to live through the massacre, but now he had to dream about it too.

The sound of footsteps interrupted Sasuke's thoughts. He listened to them carefully. _Wait a second, there is nothing above my room. That means someone is on the roof. _Sasuke quickly got out of bed and rushed over to the window. Sasuke leapt out of the window and climbed up the roof. Once at the top, Sasuke could see a dark figure sitting on the roof. He quickly crouched down to avoid being seen by the stranger.

Naruto sat on the roof looking up at the sky. For some reason, he felt different. He wasn't sure what the kyuubi did to him, but he felt like he was looking at the world in a different view. His eyesight was stronger and clear. Everything was clear even in the dark. Everything he looked at was more detailed than before and that wasn't all. His hearing was stronger, in fact he could hear someone move about in the house below him. He listened attentively as the person moved closer to him. Once the person was a couple feet behind him, Naruto decided to call him out.

"Oi Sasuke! You can come out now." Naruto didn't even bother to turn around to face him. Sasuke was a bit startled when Naruto detected him so easily. _How did he know it was me? _

"Why are you up here so late?"

"I couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep either." Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto and looked up at the dark sky. After a couple of minutes, Naruto decided to break the silence.

"Sasuke?"

"What?" Neither one of them turned to look at the other.

"What was your mother like?" Sasuke was taken back by the unexpected question. He turned to look at Naruto who never took his eyes off the night sky. _Why would he ask something like that? It's not like him to be so serious._ Sasuke looked back at the sky before speaking.

"She was the nicest person I knew. She would care for me when I was sick or injured. She would make me put bandages on the smallest cuts I had, but it was always because she was worried about me. She was a very important person to me." It was quiet for a moment until Naruto spoke again.

"Do you think all mothers are like that?"

"Most of them are, I guess. What is with these sudden questions?" Naruto sighed before finally turning to look at Sasuke.

"I was wondering…if I ever had a mother like yours." Sasuke did not know what to say after all he knew how it was like to have a family, even though it was for a short time. But for Naruto, he was alone and envious of the children who did have a family to care for them. "It is nothing you need to worry about. I'm sorry I ever brought it up."

"It's okay." Everything was quite once again, but suddenly Naruto stood up. He started to sniff the air around him.

"Sasuke, do you smell that?!" Sasuke was confused so he decided to sniff around as well.

"I don't smell anything"

"I smell smoke… something is burning!" Sasuke tried desperately to smell the smoke but failed once again. _I don't smell anything. Is he going crazy or something? _Suddenly, Naruto pointed to the far end of the village.

"Look over there!" Sasuke turned his head to see a building on fire on the other side of the village. _How did he smell the smoke all the way from here?_

"Hurry! We need to wake Iruka-sensei and warn the old man! Naruto and Sasuke jumped off the roof and ran inside the house. They busted into Iruka's room and tried to shake him awake.

"Iruka-sensei! Wake up!" Iruka only groaned and turned to his side.

"Five more minutes" Naruto was getting frustrated.

"We don't have five minutes! The village is on fire!" Iruka suddenly shot out of bed.

"WHAT!!" Naruto started pulling Iruka out of the bed.

"Come on! We need to tell the old man!" All three of them ran out of the house and headed for the Hokage tower. They could now see the fire growing in size as it lit up the night sky. They ran passed the confused guards and busted into the third hokage's bedroom.

"Hokage-sama, A building has caught on fire!" The Hokage instantly woke up. Putting on his robes, the hokage took control of the situation.

"Iruka, alert all chuunin and jounin shinobi immediately. We need to put out the fire before it spreads!" Iruka ran out of the room to gather any ninja he could find.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Come with me!" They all left the tower and headed to the direction of the burning building. Naruto had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. When they finally arrived, a group of shinobi along with Iruka were all at the scene. Some began to perform suiton techniques to put out the fire. Naruto and Sasuke stood on the side lines watching the men douse the fire. Naruto stood in shock. _This… This is my apartment building. _As the fire died, Sasuke moved closer to the building. _Isn't this were Naruto lived? _Slowly making his way around the building, Sasuke saw something that caught his attention. On the side wall, words were burnt into the wood. _What the hell is this?!_ Sasuke began to wipe the ashes of the wall to read the writing. Once the words were clear, Sasuke stood back to read the message. _Die Demon! Why did someone write this on Naruto's apartment building? _At that moment, the hokage walked up next to Sasuke to see the discovered message.

"Oh my!" Sasuke saw the look of worry on the hokage's face.

"Why would someone write this?" The hokage didn't respond. He was startled at the fact that this was an attempted murder on Naruto's life. If Naruto wasn't living with Sasuke for the time being, they would of succeeded. The hokage and Sasuke did not realize that the building was beginning to collapse right above them. The men were too busy with the fire to realize the danger the hokage and Sasuke were in at the moment. Iruka appeared next to a jounin who held a man over his shoulder.

"Is everyone out of the building?"

"Yes, this man was the only one living in the building at the moment." the jounin replied. Iruka turned to look at Naruto who was still in shock. _Poor kid, who would do such a thing? Wait a second! Where's Sasuke? _Iruka turned to see the hokage and Sasuke standing next to the building. The wall above them was about to collapse on top of them.

"HOKAGE-SAMA!! LOOK OUT!" It was too late. By the time the hokage realized the danger they were in, the wall was coming down on them. The hokage quickly grabbed Sasuke and tried to shield him from the downpour of debris. They both waited for the pain, but it didn't come. At the last moment, Naruto appeared beside them and with great speed and strength, he grabbed the hokage and Sasuke and jumped out of the way. The wreckage hit the floor hard, breaking into hundreds of little pieces. The hokage, along with everyone who witnessed the scene, were absolutely stunned by Naruto's sudden act of bravery. Sasuke slowly got up to see that he was still alive. _How did he do that? He moved so fast that I didn't even see him! _Everyone was thinking the same thing as Sasuke. Naruto was completely stumped as well. One moment, he was watching the building come down on top of Sasuke and the Hokage and the next, he pushed them out of the way. His body seemed to move on it's own when his mind could not process the information. He suddenly felt a huge strain on his body and collapsed onto the floor. Everyone rushed to his side. The hokage placed two fingers on his neck to check his pulse.

"He is fine. He just needs some rest. Iruka take him back to Sasuke's house, I will be there soon. I want to speak to him when he wakes up." The hokage looked at Sasuke who was staring down at Naruto. " Are you alright, Sasuke?"

"Yea, I'm fine"

"Good, I want you to help Iruka and return to your house. Watch over Naruto for me."

"H-Hai" Iruka walked up to Naruto and picked him up into his arms. Iruka looked at Naruto with amazement. _That was incredible! You were able to save them when chuunin and jounin level shinobi couldn't…when I couldn't. You are truly amazing, Naruto._ Iruka began to walk away with Sasuke behind him. The third stood there for a moment, watching Iruka retreat back to Sasuke's house with Naruto in his arms. _It was only for a moment, but I thought I sensed the kyuubi's chakra. Did Naruto tap into it's power to save us?_

"Hokage-sama, are you alright?" A chuunin ran up to the old man.

"Yes, I'm fine. I want this place cleared up before the sun rises."

"Hai, Hokage-sama" The chuunin disappeared in a puff of smoke to return to the other men. The Hokage stood silent for a moment as he surveyed the scene. Unknown to him and the other shinobi, a cloaked figure was watching the entire scene from the top of a tree a few yards away. He had suppressed his chakra to conceal his presence. _Interesting! That speed was incredible for a mere eight-year old to accomplish. Danzo-sama will be quite pleased with this information. _With that, the man disappeared into the wind.

**End of Chapter Eight**

**Please Review! Chapter nine will be up as soon as possible.**

**I hope you all liked the chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto**

**I am really sorry for taking so long to update, but I am always at school or at work, so I never have any time to type up the next chapter. So I hope you all will forgive me for making you wait. I did get to go over my ideas for this story in my head for the hundredth time and I realized that this is going to be a very long story so I hope you guys are willing to stay and read till the end. I promise I will try my best to make this story exciting and interesting. I do have some surprising twist and ideas up my sleeves that you will have to continue reading to find out. Also I haven't decided to put in any couples yet, but if you have a suggestion, let me know. (No Yaoi please) Read and Review!**

**Enjoy!

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The room was spinning out of control and it just wouldn't stop. Naruto clutched his head to try and ease the pain. His body was numb and it felt like all of his energy was drained out of his body. After blinking his eyes several times, the spinning started to stop. He had just woken up a moment ago to see he was no longer on the cold hard floor next to his burnt down apartment building, but in Sasuke's house in his given bed. Naruto laid on the bed in silence watching the candle on the corner table flicker, causing the shadows to bounce around the room. His body felt so much strain that he could barely move. Something like this usually never happened to him. When he was in pain or injured, it would all be gone after some sleep, but why is this pain still here? The more he thought about it, he realized that there was a strange feeling coursing through his body when he saved Sasuke and the hokage from being squished under the falling debris. Besides the extreme adrenaline rush, it felt like he was a puppet with someone else pulling the strings. His mind wasn't telling his body to move at the last minute, it just moved on it's own. And why did he feel completely exhausted afterwards? Was it something to do with the kyuubi? After that meeting with the demon fox, Naruto noticed some differences with his body. First was his enhanced senses and thanks to them, Naruto was able to spot the fire before it could spread. Second was that his reaction time had improved drastically. He was able to save the hokage and Sasuke before anyone else had the chance to move. Third was the fact that his speed and strength increased as well. _Was this the power the fox was talking about? I wonder what else this power is capable of?_

His thoughts were cut short when the sliding door to his room slid open and someone walked into the room. Naruto could not move his body to face the visitor, but what he could tell by the aroma filling the room, they were carrying a bowl of ramen with them. The person walked over to the side of the bed and pulled up a chair and sat down. Naruto was able to turn his head slightly to the right to see who was the one who entered the room…Uchiha Sasuke.

"Well, it looks like you've finally woken up. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours. It's midday now. You should eat something, it will help you feel better."

"Can you help me sit up? My body is still in pain." Sasuke placed the bowl of ramen onto the nightstand and stood up. Carefully, he lifted Naruto up into a sitting position and placed the bowl in his lap.

"Can you move your arms because I am not feeding you" Naruto gave a warm smile and chuckled lightly.

"I didn't expect you to, besides I can handle eating on my own." Ignoring the pain in his arms, Naruto carefully lifted his hands to the chopstick in the bowl and placed them in between his fingers. Slowly, he brought up the noodles to his mouth and slurped them down. This continued for a couple of minutes until the bowl was completely dry. Sasuke, who was watching Naruto eat the entire time, took the bowl and placed it back on the night stand.

"Thanks, that was really good"

"No-" Sasuke paused for a moment. For some reason he felt embarrassed about what he was going to say next. "I should be thanking you." Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"For what?"

"For saving me, so…thanks." Naruto smiled again.

"No problem." Sasuke turned away slightly to avoid eye contact with the blonde boy. Even though he was grateful that Naruto had saved his life, he couldn't help but feel ashamed deep down. He was Uchiha Sasuke, the sole survivor of the great Uchiha clan and the best in his class at the academy, and he needed to be rescued by a nobody. The boy who was just beaten senseless the night before had just shown an incredible amount of speed and power that he did not have. There were so many unanswered questions running through Sasuke's head that only frustrated him even more. He was too stubborn to admit it but he sort of felt jealous of the little blonde boy.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?"

"Yea, what?"

"How did you do that? I mean…you moved so fast that I didn't even see it. In fact, since last night, you have been acting really different. You were even able to smell the smoke from across the village." How could he explain his new strength to Sasuke? He couldn't simply say that it was from the Kyuubi. It would sound crazy if he said that the demon fox in his stomach gave him this power, even though it was completely true. Either way, Naruto needed to come up with an explanation because Sasuke was definitely waiting for one.

"I actually don't know. My body just seemed to move on it's own. I can't really explain it." He wasn't completely lying.

"That doesn't explain everything though." Sasuke said trying to pry more answers from Naruto.

"I can't explain how I could smell the smoke either. Maybe I just have a better nose than you do." A grin formed across Naruto's face when a frown formed on Sasuke's.

"Yea right. The only thing you can do better than me is stuff your face with ramen like a pig." Naruto laughed, mostly in embarrassment because he was aware of his bad eating habits. Then Naruto's grin faded completely as he continued his explanation.

"You know Sasuke, I have been thinking about a lot of things lately, especially after what happened with Mizuki-teme. I could have died that day, but for some reason I didn't…and that reason was you. You saved my life…but you won't always be there to do it again. Do you remember what Iruka-sensei said on our first day at the academy?" Sasuke thought about it for a moment before responding.

"A little bit"

"He told us that the way of the shinobi is a difficult road to face. Konoha shinobi die everyday due to the missions that are given to them by the hokage. But, they are willing to put their lives on the line for this village and because of that, they are able to die the death of an honorable shinobi. The ones who survive this road realize that life is very fragile and could be taken away instantly. They learn that they should not take life for granted and the best thing they can do is become stronger to protect what is precious to them. That is why Konoha is one of the strongest hidden villages in the world. It is because our shinobi fight to protect others just like how the Hokages did before. Each one of them were willing to put their life on the line for this village. That is the truth on how to become strong shinobi, to fight for what is precious to you." Sasuke listened in amazement to what Naruto said. He recited the speech word for word, exactly how Iruka had said it the first time.

"Naruto, how were you able to memorize everything Iruka said?"

"When he said that, It stuck with me. The truth is I want to become hokage, and when I do, I will protect this village and everyone in it with my life. Almost dying made me realize that I need to become stronger…strong enough to the protect myself and the people I care about, just like the old man and the hokages before." The conversation was broken by the sound of clapping. Both boys turned to see the hokage standing in the door way.

"Spoken like a true shinobi. It seems that the will of fire shines bright in you, Naruto."

"Will of fire?" Naruto heard the hokage mention this term before but wasn't aware of what it meant.

"It is the will to fight and protect what is precious to you. It is the foundation that Konoha was built on, created by the First hokage himself. It seems that you already understand what it means." Naruto smiled and nodded in agreement. "Sasuke, I need to speak with Naruto in private for a moment." Sasuke nodded and stood up. Grabbing the empty ramen bowl, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. The hokage walked over to the bed and sat down on the chair.

"How are you feeling Naruto?" The cheerfulness in Naruto's eyes suddenly vanished when a sudden surge of pain coursed through Naruto's body.

"I don't know. I think something is wrong" A frown formed on Sarutobi's face and a set of worry lines creased into his forehead.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Naruto groaned in pain before replying.

"It hurts so much. I don't know why? I-…I just want it to go away." Naruto suddenly clutched his chest and grinded his teeth to try an ease the pain. It felt like his insides were on fire as he screwed his eyes tight with a small trace of tears in the corners. Sarutobi quickly rushed to his side to help the suffering boy. He gently eased the blonde back into the lying position on the bed. Removing the bed covers and lifting the boy's shirt, Sarutobi stared in awe at the very detailed seal that had resurfaced on Naruto's stomach. For some reason it was different, it gave off a red glow as if it were burning the poor boy. Naruto was breathing hard and his heart was racing. Naruto thrashed his arms and legs on the bed and continued to groan in pain. Sarutobi knew the boy needed a medic, but that would take too long and unfortunately, Sarutobi did not know any medical ninjutsu. He had to do something and fast. From the looks of, something was wrong with Naruto's chakra system. Maybe the pain would go away if he was cut off from his chakra, but still, the only ones who were able to close up a person's chakra system were the Hyuugas. Another idea came to him. In one quick motion, Sarutobi jabbed Naruto in certain spots along his body with two fingers. Naruto's body became still and his heart rate slowly dropped to a steady tempo. Sarutobi sighed in relief when Naruto reopened his eyes.

"Everything will be alright, Naruto, I just hit several pressure points so your body could relax." Naruto couldn't move anymore, his body wasn't responding.

" I- I can't move." Naruto said in a faint whisper.

" I'm sorry Naruto, but your body is paralyzed for the moment. You won't be able to move, but don't worry, you will regain the feeling in your body in few minutes." Naruto did not respond, he just listened when the hokage spoke again.

"Naruto, for some reason, a burst of the kyuubi's chakra has entered your chakra system. I think it had to do something with what happened last night. But whatever happened, it is having a bad effect on your body." Naruto struggled to speak again.

"I-I thought you said that the kyuubi's chakra is already merging with mine… Why would it hurt now?" He said in a low whisper.

"They kyuubi's chakra is merging with yours, but the two charkas are merging at a slow rate so it doesn't have any negative effect on your body. But last night, you tapped into a large amount of demon chakra, even if it was only for that one moment. A demon's chakra is a lot stronger than a human's. Matter of fact, during the kyuubi attack, it's chakra had a poisonous effect to anyone who was unfortunate to come across it. I am very surprised that you are able to contain it so well." Naruto did not speak, he just took a moment for his brain to process all of the information given to him. Was this new power supposed to help him or was the kyuubi trying to kill him? Either way, he needed to find a way to talk to the big fuzz ball again so he could get some answers. Naruto wondered if he should tell the hokage about the short conversation he had with the fox and the power given to him. In the end, he decided against it because he did not want the old man to worry about it and if word got out that he was using demon chakra, the villager would surely try to have him exiled from the village. When he thought back to the villagers, he thought back to the pile of ash that was once his home.

"W-Who did it?" Sarutobi was completely lost by Naruto's question.

"Did what?"

"My home" When Sarutobi finally realized what he was taking about, he let out a sigh.

"My boy, who said that it was done intentionally?"

"Old man, I saw the writing on the wall. I know someone had tried to kill me" Naruto said in a unusual cold tone. Sarutobi could only feel sorry for the boy. There has been so many assignation attempts on his life that he was now used to them. It was awful that instead of playing with other eight-year olds, this boy worried about when will someone try to kill him again. His rough childhood had hardened his heart and Sarutobi needed to help the poor blonde boy before the effects became permanent.

"I do not know. I have several anbu searching the debris for any clues on who could of done it as we speak." Naruto nodded, accepting the man's answer. Slowly and carefully he tried to move his arms and legs. Using a lot of concentration and will power, he was able to wiggle his fingers, then his hands, then his arms, and eventually he was able to regain mobility of his entire body. With the help of the third hokage, he was able to sit back up on the bed.

"Some fresh air will help you recover." Naruto nodded and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Using his arms to push off the bed, he slowly lifted himself off the bed. When he was finally standing, his legs began to shake so much that he nearly collapsed on the floor if the hokage hadn't caught. Wrapping one arm around the boy's hip and placing the boy's arm around his neck, Sarutobi helped Naruto stand and walk out the room. Taking one step at a time, they walked down the hallway to the living room, where Sasuke and Iruka were waiting for them.

Sasuke was sitting on the couch deep in his thoughts while Iruka paced around the room. Iruka had spent all morning nervously waiting for Naruto to wake up. He was always so worried for the young blonde. Sometimes he was tough on him in the academy, but he was only trying to help Naruto pass the academy so he could one day become a genin. Even though, Iruka would usually be the target for one of Naruto's ridiculous pranks, he could never find it in his heart to truly hate the boy. Everyone would think that Iruka would hold the biggest grudge over the demon vessel since both of his parents were killed during the kyuubi attack eight years ago, but every time Iruka looked at Naruto he would see a part of him looking back. He was one of the very few people who saw Naruto as Naruto and not a reincarnated form of the kyuubi. Iruka had promised himself that he would help Naruto become a great ninja and he intends to keep that promise, no matter what.

Iruka's pacing back and forth would usually irritate Sasuke, but he was too lost in his thoughts to care. He was thinking about what Naruto had told him and the will of fire the third hokage spoke of.

_The truth is I want to become hokage, and when I do, I will protect this village and everyone in it with my life. Almost dying made me realize that I need to become stronger…strong enough to the protect myself and the people I care about, just like the old man and the hokages before._

_It seems that the will of fire shines bright in you, Naruto. It is the will to fight and protect what is precious to you._

Could fighting for others really help someone become stronger? Sasuke couldn't help to wonder if he had the will of fire. Did he have someone important to fight for? His thoughts were disrupted by Iruka's voice.

"Naruto! It is good to see you up and about!" Sasuke looked up to see a groggy looking Naruto hanging on to the third's side. Iruka rushed over by Naruto's other side to help him walk over to the chair. Iruka made sure that Naruto was comfortable on the couch before turning to the hokage. " How's he doing?"

"He'll be just fine, Iruka. I wouldn't be surprised if he was jumping around again by the end of the day. In fact, I think you should start training the boys right after their academy class tomorrow." Both boys had a look of surprise on their faces while there was a look of complete shock on Iruka's.

"B-But Hokage-sama, are you sure that would be okay? After all, we should wait a day or two until Naruto is completely healed."

"Naruto won't need a day or two to heal. Besides, he doesn't have much time left in the village before he has to leave with his new sensei." Sasuke's ears perked up when he heard the last part. Sarutobi glanced over to Naruto and Sasuke. "As soon as class is over tomorrow, prepare yourselves to start training. As for location, you can use training ground six." Sarutobi said as he looked back towards Iruka. "Alright, I still have some work to finish back at my office. I will check in once in awhile to see how you all are doing." The hokage looked over to Naruto. "Work hard and try your best, Naruto." Sarutobi said as he ruffled the boy's golden spiky mane. He looked over to were Sasuke was sitting. "I also see great potential in you too, Sasuke. Train hard as well." Sarutobi walked out of the room leaving a wide foxy grin on Naruto's face and a small smirk on Sasuke's. Iruka decided that now was a good time to kill the mood.

"Listen up! Be prepared because tomorrow…your in for the hardest training of your lives." Iruka could only snicker behind his tough front when frowns appeared on the eight-year olds' faces. Yes, tomorrow he was going to have fun running these boys into the ground with a little payback in store for Naruto. Next time, Naruto will think twice before pulling another cruel prank on Umino Iruka, the toughest academy teacher in all of Konoha.

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**End of Chapter Nine**

**I hope you liked this chapter and there will be plenty more coming as soon as possible. Please Review!!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Again, I am so sorry for taking so long to update, but I just recently moved to a new city and it took me awhile to find some time to type up this chapter. Thank you to everyone who submitted a review, its great to hear that you all like my story. I know everyone is anxious to know about Naruto's sensei but you all have to be patient. This story will be full of surprises and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

**Chapter Ten**

After having a great night's sleep, Naruto awoke to the sound of chirping birds and the warm, bright sun outside his window. Letting out a yawn, Naruto rose from the bed and stretched out his arms. _I feel great! My body isn't even sore or anything._ Naruto felt completely rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Naruto walked out into the hallway only to have a delicious aroma enter his nostrils. Walking down the hallway, Naruto entered the kitchen to see Iruka by the stove.

"Morning, Iruka-sensei! Something smells really good!"

"You're too loud." Sasuke suddenly appeared next to the blonde haired boy with a slightly irritated look on his face as he glared at Naruto to lower his voice.

" Good Morning boys! I thought that you guys could use a good breakfast to start your day before we go to the academy." Naruto and Sasuke sat at the table and Iruka began placing the food on the table. Iruka placed a tray of grilled fish, white rice, omelets, and some fruits in front of the boys. The delicious smell made Naruto's mouth water and he had to hold himself back from devouring the whole meal.

"Wow, Iruka-Sensei! This looks great!"

"Thanks, Naruto. Go ahead and dig in." Naruto picked up a pair of chopsticks at lightning speed.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto dove into his plate and began eating. Sasuke drank some green tea as he watched Naruto finish his plate in less than thirty seconds. Iruka was also amazed and disgusted by Naruto's eating habits.

"Slow down, Naruto. You're gonna choke if you don't chew your food." Naruto stopped and swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I guess I'm just excited to start training today. Mmmm, this is so good! I've never had breakfast like this before." Sasuke was taken back from his last comment.

"You've never had a real breakfast before?" Naruto looked at Sasuke to see his confused expression.

"No, not really. I usually eat ramen for breakfast because I can't cook and I have no one else that can cook for me or at least teach me." He went back to stuffing his face with the other food on the table. Sasuke felt a bit guilty that he could enjoy breakfasts like this anytime while Naruto had to eat ramen all the time. He learned a few things about cooking from his mother but Naruto doesn't have anyone to teach him anything. _Life must be really hard for him_. Sasuke ate the rest of his food in silence while Naruto discussed unimportant topics like the pranks he had pulled while Iruka lectured him that he shouldn't do them again. After everyone was full, Iruka stood up and began clearing off the table.

"You two should go get ready, I'm leaving in fifteen minutes." Sasuke looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Class doesn't start for another thirty-five minutes. Why are we going in twenty minutes early?" Sasuke and Naruto looked at Iruka curiously.

" I am the teacher and I have to prepare today's assignments before your classmates arrive. Besides now I can make sure neither of you are late to my class, especially you Naruto." Iruka glared at the blonde eight-year old only to receive a sheepish grin as a reply. After everyone was dressed and ready, Iruka, Sasuke, and Naruto walked over to the Academy which was only a ten minute walk from Sasuke's house. When entering the classroom, Iruka looked up at the clock.

"Well, it looks like we have ten minutes before class starts, so I guess you guys can just sit and talk until everyone arrives." Sasuke decided to take a seat next to the window and sat silently, watching the people walk by. Naruto stood by the door for a minute, watching Iruka go through some papers on his desk. When the silence started to become uncomfortable, Naruto finally decided to say something.

" Iruka-sensei?" Iruka looked up from the papers to see Naruto standing only a few inches from his desk. " What are you gonna teach us during training later?"

"Sorry, Naruto, but your just going to have to wait and see when it is time."

"Please Iruka-sensei, I can't wait that long." Iruka then opened a drawer and pulled out a large textbook.

"You have to be patient, but in the mean time, you can look through this book. It contains some events in Konoha that happened in the past, like the great ninja wars. I'm sure you can find something interesting in here. Why don't you sit next to Sasuke and you both can look at it together?" Naruto looked over the book before taking it reluctantly. He then walked up to were Sasuke was sitting. He noticed that Sasuke was still gazing out of the window, not even paying attention to him. An evil smirk formed on Naruto's face as an idea came to his mind. Lifting the book over his head, Naruto dropped it onto the table next to Sasuke causing a loud, booming noise. Sasuke instantly jumped up from his seat as well as Iruka who was also startled from the noise. Sasuke was breathing heavy and glaring at the laughing blonde which irritated Sasuke even more. Naruto was holding his sides and his eyes were tearing, he was to busy laughing that he didn't notice Sasuke walking towards him.

"OWWWW! What was that for?" Naruto said, now rubbing the bump on his head.

"DOBE! Don't scare me like that?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT, TEME!"

"ENOUGH! Both of you sit down and stop causing trouble, Naruto!" Iruka's face was red and his eyebrows were twitching furiously. Naruto and Sasuke stared at Iruka before glaring back at each other. Sasuke then sat back down and returned his gaze towards the window.

"Hmph!" Naruto sat down in the chair next to Sasuke and started flipping through the pages in the textbook. Iruka slowly calmed down and went back to the paperwork on his desk. Naruto was looking over the pictures in the book carefully taking in each scene. There were pictures of battles, festivals, and people. He was amazed by the number of ninjas that did something incredible in their lifetime. He flipped to the pages about the previous hokages, but stopped when he reached the page about the Yondaime hokage. Reading over the information in the book, he learned that the Fourth hokage was the youngest hokage in Konoha history. He had great potential and was also the apprentice of one of the three legendary sannin.

"Sannin? What are Sannin?" Naruto whispered to himself.

"Do you pay attention in class at all?" Startled, Naruto looked up from the book to see Sasuke looking at him who had overheard the question.

"You know what Sannin are?" Naruto asked.

"Iruka mentioned them last week in class, but I guess you were too busy sleeping to remember. The Legendary sannin are three ninjas that were trained by the third hokage himself. They are from Konoha, but no one knows where they are anymore. The Fourth hokage was trained by the sannin known as the toad sage, but I don't know his name."

" So these three are really strong, right?"

"Yea and you'll be very lucky if one of them ever trained you. Why do you think the Fourth was so strong.?"

" Wow, I going to be strong like them one day!" Sasuke snorted at the comment.

" Like you could ever be that strong, you have the worst grades in the entire class." Naruto glared at Sasuke's smirk.

"Watch Sasuke, one day I'm gonna be hokage and you'll have to respect me!"

"Whatever" Naruto went back to the book mumbling curses under his breath. Flipping to the next page, Naruto's eyes widened in shock. On the page was a painting of the Kyubbi attack eight years ago. The painting was scary compared to the real thing. Of course the real demon was terrifying, but the painting of him sent chills down Naruto's spine. Dead bodies were lying on the ground and trees in the background were demolished. The demon's eyes shined with a lust for blood and a red aura surrounded it's body. _I now understand why everyone hates the kyuubi so much. He truly is a monster, but can't they see that I am not the one responsible for that day. _Naruto read the caption on the bottom of the page. _The Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure and was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage who sacrificed his own life for his village.__ The old man can really keep the truth a secret. _Naruto didn't notice Sasuke looking over to see the picture on the page. He looked at Naruto and saw how hard he was concentrating on the picture.

"Do you even know what that picture is of?" Sasuke asked, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto looked up at Sasuke and then back at the book.

"Yea, I do. It's the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked Konoha eight-years ago."_ And ruined my life. _Naruto did not take his eyes of the picture and was only interrupted when the classroom door flew open. One by one, his classmates walked into the room and took a seat at their desks. They talked amongst themselves waiting for class to start. Naruto tried to continue reading the book but failed when one student grabbed the book from the table.

"Well, Look what we've got here! I didn't know the dead last could read." The boy wore a gray jacket with a fur hood. A pair of unusual red triangle marks rested on each cheek, but the one thing that was unique to the boy was the small, white puppy sleeping on the boy's head, under his hood

"Gimmie it back, Dog-Face!" The boy growled at the insult and raised the book over his head.

"You want it, try and get it!" Naruto grinded his teeth in anger. He knew he was the shortest kid in the classroom, but he didn't like to be made fun of because of it. "Don't tell me you're gonna start crying, you big baby!" The boy was laughing and so were some of the other students. Naruto clenched his fists tight, he could feel his heart beating faster and his anger rising.

"Inuzuka Kiba! Give Naruto the book back and return to your seat! Iruka yelled from his desk.

"Come on sensei, were just having some fun!" In that moment, Naruto had jumped over Kiba's head and snatched the book from his hand when he wasn't looking. Naruto landed behind him, and Kiba turned around to face him. " How the hell did-" Kiba was suddenly sent into the classroom wall when Naruto put his fist into his stomach. Kiba's back hit the wall hard and he fell to the floor coughing up blood. Naruto was in a crouching position with his fist out, his eyes were filled with anger as he watched the other boy clutch his stomach. Kiba groaned in pain and his eyes began to water.

"Don't tell me you're gonna start crying, you big baby!" Naruto growled in a mocking tone. Everyone who happened to see the event were completely shocked. One of the toughest boys in the class was just beaten by the dead last. The small dog on the boy's head had woken up and jumped down to the floor. He stood in front of the boy protectively and started to growl and bark at Naruto. As soon as the dog looked straight into Naruto's cold, blue eyes, the dog was quickly silenced and sent whimpering to his master's side. Iruka stood with his mouth hanging open, clearly surprised to see Naruto pull a stunt like that. Naruto was the most suprising boy he had ever met. Finally overcoming the shock, Iruka decided to put order back into the classroom.

" Everyone settle down! I will not have fighting in this classroom. Naruto sit back in your seat. I will speak with you after class. Shino!" A spiky haired boy wearing sunglasses and a coat walked towards Iruka. " I want you to take Kiba to the nurse, immediately. I will speak with him later." The boy only nodded and walked towards Kiba. Wrapping Kiba's arm around his shoulder, Shino lifted the boy up and walked out of the classroom with the white puppy trailing behind them with his tail between his legs. The rest of the class could only stare and wonder about the blond hair boy. Naruto just ignored the stares and whispers and stood up and calmly walked back to his seat like nothing happened. He did not say anything to Sasuke who was staring at him in disbelief, he only put his head on the table and closed his eyes. He was able to relax for another minute or two until he heard the door fly open and two loud voices enter the room. It was always the same, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura would burst into the classroom fighting about who Sasuke liked more. In the beginning of the year, Naruto had formed a crush on Sakura, but he realized that she was too obsessed with Sasuke to even notice him. Their voices were getting closer until Naruto realized they were standing right next to him.

"Naruto, Move! I wanna sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled but was pushed out of the way by Ino.

"No, I'm gonna sit next to my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura pushed Ino back and started yelling at her.

" Sasuke-kun's mine, Ino-pig!"

"Like he would ever like you, Forehead-girl!" Other girls, who were not fortunate to witness what Naruto had done to Kiba, started to appear and argue with each other saying things like "Sasuke-kun likes me better." and "I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun." Everyone else began to back away when they realized Naruto was getting irritated by all the noise and it wouldn't be long until he lost it again.

"STOP!" Naruto no longer had his head on the table but was now glaring at all the girls. All of the girls were silenced by Naruto's glare instantly . They could see so much anger in his eyes that it frightened them.

"Everybody sit down, class is starting." said Iruka and all of the girls surrounding Sasuke's table dispersed and found another place to sit. Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke and saw him rubbing his temples. _I guess I did him a favor by getting rid of his fan club. I can't help but feel bad if he had to sit next to one of those girls. _Naruto put his head back on the table, but was still paying attention to the lesson being taught. Iruka began teaching the class today's lesson, but was worried about Naruto. He was not the same Naruto from this morning. _Did Kiba really make Naruto that mad? _Iruka would usually yell at Naruto for sleeping during his lessons but decided against it seeing that Naruto was in a bad mood at the moment, so he let the blonde hair boy sleep.

The bell rang and the class was over. The students exited the building and met their parents that waited patiently in front of the building. Naruto was sitting outside on a lone swing in the shadows of an old oak tree. He watched his classmates meet their parents at the door while Iruka spoke to a fierce looking women with Kiba on her side, who had recovered from that punch to the gut. He was most likely telling her about what had happened earlier that day. Naruto looked over the women's physical appearance. She was probably in her mid-thirties and her brown hair was a spiky mess. By the red marks one her face, Naruto concluded that she was probably Kiba's mother. By her side was a wolf-like dog with an eye patch and one ear. Naruto watched as the lady scowled Kiba for picking fights and he hung his head down in shame. He suddenly saw Iruka pointing in his direction and the mother looked up to face him. The swing stopped abruptly as Naruto stared at the women's animalistic eyes. He realized that his eyes had looked similar to hers after he had met the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but the only difference was that his eyes were the color of blood. The women left with Kiba tailing behind her and Naruto swung silently again watching the other children leave with their parents.

Sasuke was sitting on a bench on the side of the building. He watched as Iruka spoke to Tsume Inuzuka, Kiba's mother. When Sasuke was six, his family was invited for dinner at the Inuzuka clan house. It was a friendly dinner between the clan head families, but Sasuke found out the reason why his father would always say that the Inuzukas were too in tuned with their dogs. There were dogs everywhere, all different types and sizes but the thing that took Sasuke by surprise that some of them could actually talk. Even the people had dog-like characteristics like elongated canines, razor sharp claws, slitted pupils, and heightened senses. That night he had met Kiba, and his mother and sister. His sister, Hana was twelve years old at the time and was the only normal one in her family. When he had met Kiba, the boy was extremely loud and cocky. He would always go on about how he was going to be the best ninja to ever come from the Inuzuka clan. But out of all the Inuzukas, Kiba's mother was the worst. Sasuke had to admit that the women was very scary. She was very aggressive and looked like she would attack at any minute, especially with that talking wolf with the eye patch staring at him throughout dinner. He was relieved that he never had to back there again.

Sasuke noticed that Kiba and his crazy mother were leaving and Iruka was walking towards him. Iruka stopped in front of him and reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Sasuke, I have to go back into the classroom and collect and grade the papers from today's lesson. I want you to take Naruto and head to the training ground, I will be there shortly. We will be using training ground six, I drew you a map so you don't get lost." Iruka handed the paper to Sasuke and he looked over it carefully. " Just wait there until I arrive, don't do anything else." Suddenly, Iruka leaned in and whispered something into Sasuke's ear, who only nodded as a reply. With that Iruka turned around and went back into the building.

Sasuke looked around to find Naruto. He finally spotted him by himself on the swing under the oak tree. He still couldn't believe what happened in class. There was no way that someone who had the worst grades in taijutsu, ninjutsu…and practically everything else do something that he had done. Sasuke saw him do a complete flip over Kiba's head and gracefully land behind him. He could also tell that the punch to Kiba's gut had a lot of power put into it because Kiba was sent into the wall a couple feet back. Sasuke trained hard all the time to improve his taijutsu, but he could not punch someone hard enough to send them flying into a wall. So how could Naruto, someone with no real training, accomplish that? He was curious and had every intention to question Naruto but he remembered what Iruka had just said to him. _Sasuke, please do not go asking questions! If Naruto wants to talk about it, he will. For now, just be nice to him, he's had a tough week. _Sasuke sighed as he approached Naruto from the side.

Before Sasuke could get within fifteen feet from Naruto, he had already sensed Sasuke and turned to face him. Sasuke was a bit startled by the look on his face. Sasuke looked down at his feet, unable to keep eye contact with the blond boy. Naruto's once joyful, blue eyes were now hallow and cold, filled with the unbearable pain of loneliness. Even though Sasuke never really met Naruto until recently and always thought of him as a loser, he couldn't help but feel…guilty. Guilty because he never took the time to help him. After class was dismissed, he would always see him. He just sat and watched… and that's what he did… just sat on the swing and watched his classmates leave. Leave with their parents…their friends…their families. All of the things that Naruto didn't have. Sasuke lost count of how many times he saw him sitting there with the same look in his eyes. Never once did he think about saying hello to him. He was guilty because he should of helped him…should have been his friend. Even though it was in the past, it wasn't too late to fix it. Not yet!

He walked up to Naruto and held out his hand. Naruto blinked in confusion and looked skeptically at Sasuke.

"Come on! Let's get to the training ground so we can start our training." A grin found it's way onto Naruto face as he looked at the small smile on Sasuke's. He was being nice to him, out of all people…Sasuke was being nice to him. Naruto grabbed his hand and Sasuke helped him off the swing. Sasuke took the map to training ground six out of his pocket and looked it over. "I've never been to this training ground before." Naruto looked over Sasuke's shoulder to look at the map.

"Hey, I know where that is!" Sasuke turned to look at him.

"You do?" Naruto beamed and nodded his head furiously.

"Yup! I found that place when I was five. It's my secret spot, because no one ever visits that place. I didn't know it was a training ground. Come on! I'll show you a shortcut!" Naruto ran past Sasuke, he turned back to look at him and smiled. "Come on!" Sasuke smiled and ran after him. Naruto led him down a few alleyways and empty streets. They ran into the woodsy area of the village and kept on running for about five minutes. Taking sharp turns left and right, Naruto had the way to the grounds memorized completely because of all the time he had visited his secret place. Sasuke was beginning to get worried, they were running deeper into the woods and was afraid of getting lost. _Does Naruto really know where he's going? I should of followed the map Iruka gave me! _

He was broken out of his thoughts when the two boys ran into a clearing. Sasuke was stunned by the view in front of him. The luscious, green clearing was not damaged or ruined like the other training grounds were from being over used. The field stretched on and on and was completely surround by the forest for privacy. A gentle stream could be seen that led to a waterfall about half a mile away. Sasuke looked at Naruto who was just smiling at the scene. Naruto then ran into the middle of the field and laid on his back, staring at the bright blue sky. Sasuke slowly walked up to Naruto, still taking in his surrounding. Looking down at the boy, Sasuke could see how calm and peaceful Naruto felt by this place. Sitting next to Naruto, the boy took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Naruto" Naruto faced Sasuke.

"Yea?" His voice was so relaxed and calm.

"I like your secret place" Naruto smiled.

"Yea, me too." They sat there for a few minutes before Naruto sat up.

"Hey, where's Iruka-sensei?"

"He's back at the academy. He'll be here soon." Just on cue, Iruka appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey guys, I hope I didn't make you guys wait for too long." Sasuke stood up and Naruto did the same.

"You're fifteen minutes late." Sasuke said in a slightly irritated tone. Iruka rubbed his head nervously.

"Heh heh, Sorry. Well at least it was only fifteen minutes. I heard that there is an elite ninja in this village that is always three hours late to everything." Naruto eyes widened in shock.

"Wow, three hours! I would hate to be the one waiting for that guy to show up." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

* * *

In a different village not to far away, A silver haired man wearing a mask sneezed.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're catching a cold!"

"No, I'm fine. Come on Pakkun! We need to hurry up and finish this mission."

"Hai, let's go."

* * *

Back at the training Grounds, Iruka thought that he should talk to Naruto about what he did to Kiba.

"Hey Naruto, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh…sure." Naruto walked over to Iruka. They both walked until they were earshot away from Sasuke who looked curiously at the both of them.

"Naruto, what you did in the classroom-" Naruto interrupted him.

"I know what I did was wrong, but he was picking on me again and I kinda lost it. I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. I promise I'll apologize tomorrow for hitting him." Iruka smiled softly and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"That's what I like to here, Naruto. When I talked to Kiba earlier, he said that he was very sorry for taking the book and making fun of you. He would of told you personally, but he said something about needing to eat later and doesn't want to be punched in the stomach again." Naruto and Iruka started to laugh.

"He doesn't need to worry, I'm not mad at him anymore."

"Good, Now let's get back to Sasuke before he begins to feel left out."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto and Iruka walked over back to Sasuke to start their training. Iruka had been thinking all day on what would be a good training exercise to run these boys into the ground and he finally got one. He couldn't help but smile to the thought. _This is going to be fun._

"Alright guys, Listen up!" Iruka yelled in a commanding voice. Naruto and Sasuke stood in attention.

"I want twenty laps around the field from each of you and then-"

"NANI?!" Naruto was dumbstruck and Sasuke's mouth was hanging wide open. "You want us to do twenty laps around this whole thing! That's way too much!" Iruka raised his hand, signaling Naruto to stop.

"If you have time to complain, than I should make it thirty laps."

"No, No! Twenty laps is just fine." Naruto said waving his arms frantically.

"Good! When you're done, we can start the next exercise." Sasuke was hesitant to speak.

"And what would that be?"Sasuke asked, fearing what the answer would be.

"One hundred push-ups and one hundred sit ups." Naruto and Sasuke's faces went completely pale. "These exercises will increase your stamina which is important when you become a ninja. There are missions where you have to endure days and days of endless battles or running. If you don't have the strength to keep going, it could kill you. Now what are you waiting for? Start moving!" The two eight-year olds groaned as they started their first lap. They wondered how long they would last with the new, sadistic Iruka training them. Iruka only smirked evilly as he watched the boys start the beginning of their new and very painful training experience.

**End of Chapter**

**Please Review and I promise that I will update the next chapter a lot sooner than the last one.**

**Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.**

**-Thorn3drose : )**


	11. Chapter 11

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Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Before I start this next chapter, I would like to say that I will be getting to the more interesting parts of the story very soon. I've also decided to say somethings about what will happen in the story.**

**I will put a hold on adding couples into this story or I might not add any at all. If I do, there will be no yaoi, yuri, and none of those weird couples like Naruto and someone who is too old for him. (Kurenai, Anko, Tsunade, Shizune, etc.) Sorry.**

**There are no gender changes (Haku remains a boy…a very feminine boy.)**

**Naruto will not have a blood line trait and the kyuubi will not train him.**

**Once the story gets to the genin exams, it will follow the original story line but will be altered slightly.**

**I will not say anything about Naruto's sensei except that an appearance will be made in one or two more chapters.**

**There are certain things that I did not answer because it will be mentioned in the story later on.**

**Please leave any comments or questions that can help improve my story. Thank you**

**Enjoy!**

The hues of puple, red, and blue twisted in the sky, forming a beautiful masterpiece as the sun said it's final goodbyes for the evening. The air blew calm and gentle and the bright moon made it's appearance over the horizon. Only one man watched the serene view with disgust in his eyes. He knew that this peaceful time was only an illusion of the mind. There could be no peace in the world of the shinobi, only wars. He knew from past experience that war was inevitable…he had the scars to prove it. He believed that the old fool who dared to call himself the Sandaime hokage was only living in a fantasy world that was so friendly…so trusting…so absurd. How that damned man ever beat him out of the title of hokage was beyond him. His ideas were realistic and logical while the so called "Professor" had a head filled with foolishness. Even his idea to help that Uzumaki child to grow strong just made him sick. Wanting to give that boy a sensei to train him…and from what he had been told, the old man had lost his mind completely. Sarutobi actually believed some old, bedtime story, legend would come to help that brat. Maybe it was finally time for him to take the title of hokage if Sarutobi was this delusional. They should of made that boy into a weapon like he had proposed. From what he had heard, Suna had created a living weapon of their own and whose to say that they would not use that weapon to obliterate Konoha. Sarutobi had called his idea preposterous and said that the boy needed to be raised like a regular child. He also says that Suna would never threaten their alliance by attacking Konoha….ignorant fool. He should know better that you cannot trust anyone in this world, because everyone was competing for one thing…power.

Sarutobi had forced him underground and his title as the great, war hawk was diminished. That is why he had created his own force of elite shinobi without Sarutobi's knowledge. Greater than those worthless piece of trash known as the hokage's Anbu Black Ops. Those men are not suited to carry the title of Konoha's elite ninja. No…that title rightfully belongs to his men…the ones that were trained under his watchful eye and guidance.

The Anbu Root Division.

This Division is the future strength of Konoha and the greatest military force the world will ever see. His men are trained as skilled assassins that will complete their mission…no matter what it takes. Unlike the Anbu under the hokage's control, these men have eliminated their feelings completely to make sure something so pointless as emotions do not jeopardize a mission. One of his most skilled students is a black haired boy of only eight years old. This boy is already able to kill without a second thought. To think that the demon brat could have this type of skill if Sarutobi was not so hard headed. That boy's skills are close to nonexistent and are not ever going to get better especially with that weak academy teacher currently training him and the young Uchiha. The only reason that he preferred the boy alive for now was what one of his men had told him. The council elders, Homura and Koharu, had asked him to have a member from his division to keep a close eye on the boy for the next week. At first he thought that it was a complete waste of time, he didn't expect to find some very interesting results in less than twenty-four hours. Apparently, the boy had tapped into the demon's chakra for a brief moment. The chakra of a demon is known to be lethal to a human, but this boy is able to withstand it and receive an incredible boost of strength and speed. Now if only he could harness that kind of power. It would have done that boy good if he had been trained into a weapon and the Uchiha kid would have been a nice addition into Root, but he knew he would never be able to attain those two boys with Sarutobi around. One day he will get his chance to rise again and show the world his true strength and genius and when that day comes, everyone will learn to fear and respect his name.

Danzo.

* * *

"Come on boys, it's getting late. We'll continue where we left off tomorrow." Iruka watched as the boys suddenly collapsed to the ground and laid there panting and unmoving. They had just finished another set of pushups and their arms could no longer bare the weight. They had spent the whole day completing various warm up exercises to help build strength and increase stamina. Now they were dead tired and could barely stand. They slowly eased themselves onto their feet and put their arms around each other's neck for support. Slowly, they walked to Iruka, wincing slightly from the pain in their legs. "I know that you're sore now, but trust me when I say that it will be worth it in the long run."

"We have to run again?! Awww man!" Naruto groaned.

"Baka! It's an expression." Sasuke said in annoyance while Iruka chuckled lightly.

"Actually, you're both right. What I just said was an expression, but we will still be doing laps everyday after academy classes." Naruto groaned and fell back onto the ground, dragging Sasuke down with him. Iruka only sighed and began to walk away leaving the boys to help themselves up once again.

"Dobe, look what you did!"

"Oops, Sorry"

"Whatever, just get up. You're sitting on my foot."

"Oh, Sorry…again." Naruto eased himself onto his feet and turned to face Sasuke who was still struggling to get up. Sasuke was on his knees, trying to ignore the pain, when an outstretched hand appeared in front of his face. He stared blankly at Naruto's hand, wondering if he should accept his offer. Naruto was beginning to get impatient.

"I know you like to do things on your own, but it's okay to ask for help once in awhile. Hurry up, Teme…you're making my arm go numb." Sasuke hesitantly took his hand, and Naruto pulled him to his feet. As Sasuke dusted himself off, Naruto looked up to see Iruka's retreating back shrinking in the distance.

"HEY IRUKA-SENSEI! WAIT FOR US!" Naruto ran off to meet his sensei, leaving a very shocked Sasuke in the dust. _How the hell is he still able to run after all those exercises. _He sighed and took a deep breath.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Sasuke began his long and painful walk to catch up with his sensei and the annoying blonde wonder.

* * *

The sweet smell of ramen noodles invaded Naruto's nostrils as they walked into the Ichiraku ramen stand. In Naruto's opinion, this was one of the best places in all of Konoha. Naruto took a seat on the closest stool with Iruka on his right and Sasuke on his left. Sasuke groaned inwardly and rolled his eyes when he realized that Naruto was lost in a ramen induced trance and was now drooling on the table.

"Why are we here again?" Sasuke asked with an irritated tone.

"I decided that I should treat you guys to some dinner for all your hard work today." Iruka responded with a smile on his face.

"I know that, its just…why did you pick a ramen stand?" Sasuke said while snapping his fingers in front of Naruto's face to break his trance which only proved to be unsuccessful.

"Why? Don't you like ramen?" Iruka said while placing some napkins in front of Naruto to stop the flow of drool.

"Actually, no I don't. I'm used to eating more…healthier things." Suddenly Naruto broke out of his daze and slammed his hands down on the counter.

"NANI?! How can you not like ramen, I mean come on, there's over a dozen different flavors and each one tastes so amazing. And for your information, I eat ramen all the time and I'm healthy as an ox." Naruto said while puffing out his chest.

"Yeah…sure you are" Sasuke said while deflating Naruto's chest with a poke of his finger.

"Welcome!" greeted a young women and an old man who appeared from the back room. A smile found its way onto both their faces when they saw who it was exactly that was eating at their small restaurant for the evening.

"Look who we have here, its Naruto!" The old man said.

" Hi old man! Hi Ayame-neechan!" A wide grin appeared on Naruto's face.

"Hello Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan" Iruka said.

"Hello, Iruka-san. It's been a few days since I've seen you or Naruto-kun here. I was beginning to worry that my best two customer weren't coming back."

"We were just a little…busy, that's all" Iruka glanced over to Naruto then back to Teuchi.

"Who is your friend, Naruto-kun?" Ayame said while pointing to Sasuke.

"This is Uchiha, Sasuke. We're in the same academy class."

"Is that so, well it's nice to meet you Sasuke-kun. I'm Ayame and this is my father, Teuchi." Sasuke only nodded. " So what can I get you three gentlemen?"

"One Miso Pork Ramen, Please!"

"Same for me, please." Iruka stated. Sasuke stayed silent for a moment.

"What about you Sasuke-kun? What would you like?" Sasuke was hesitant to answer but looked over to Naruto who nodded for him to order.

"I guess I'll have the same too." Naruto just smiled happily. They sat in silence for a few minutes until the bowls of ramen arrived. Then Naruto quickly grabbed a pair of chopstick and yelled "Itadakimasu" before slurping down the bowl. Iruka and Sasuke slowly did the same. The stand was silent except for Naruto's slurping noises until he decided to speak.

"You know what Sasuke, you need to loosen up and stop acting so stuck up." Sasuke scowled in response. Iruka looked up from his bowl of noodles as well.

"Naruto is right, Sasuke. You are very anti-social and you should at least try to make friends with some of your classmates." Iruka stated.

"Like who? Those annoying girls that like to chase me around." Sasuke snorted.

"Believe me Sasuke, no guy deserves that type of torture, not even you." Naruto said while laughing.

"Well, I'm glad that at least you two are friends." Iruka smiled to the boys. Naruto stared at him blankly for a brief moment before laughing again.

"Like I want to be friends with this stuck up teme!" In one moment, he was laughing hysterically and in the next he was cradling his aching head while Sasuke stood over him with a clenched fist.

"And who says I want to be friends with you, dobe?!" Immediately, Naruto stood back up and grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt with his right hand.

"What did you call me, Teme?!" Sasuke grabbed onto Naruto shirt as well.

"You heard me, Baka!" The two boys were now glaring daggers at each other while Iruka continued to eat his ramen. He decided not to interfere because he knew what was going to happen next. The now very irritated Ayame with a long, metal spoon in hand appeared in front of the boys, who were oblivious to her now dark presence. In one quick swing, she bopped both boys over the head to end their bickering.

"No fighting in the stand! We are trying to run a business here and you're scaring away the customers. Now sit down and finish your ramen!" Ayame yelled in a dangerous tone.

"Hai!" They said in unison and quickly began to slurp the rest of their noodles.

"Good! Now behave like good, little eight-year olds, I will be back to check on you shortly." Ayame said in a sweet tone before disappearing again in the back room. Naruto and Sasuke stopped eating for a moment and looked at each other.

"Ayame-neechan is very scary when she's angry." Naruto whispered to Sasuke who only nodded in agreement. On the other side, Iruka was laughing inwardly, but couldn't help but agree with Naruto and Sasuke. Women can get pretty scary when they're mad. Except that special jounin, Mitarashi Anko, now there was a women who was scary all the time. Just thinking of her gave him the chills.

Iruka looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, who were now eating their ramen in complete silence. Even though they deny it, he knew that deep down in their hearts…they considered each other as friends. Only time will tell how that friendship will grow.

* * *

"Naruto, wake up!" Iruka said as he shaked the snoring boy by the shoulder. The boy groaned and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light. He noticed that Iruka was already dressed and ready to go.

"Can I just stay home for today? I'm too tired." Naruto said, half mumbling and half whining. Iruka was about to refuse, but got a better idea instead.

"Sure." Iruka said with a sweet smile. Naruto was completely confused.

"Really?"

"Yea…just sleep in all day. I don't think Sasuke would mind if I trained him by himself." In that moment, Naruto was out of the bed and rushing around the room in search for his clothes.

"I changed my mind. I think it would be a better idea if I went to class." Iruka crossed his arms, never dropping the smile on his face.

"Much better…now hurry up, we're leaving in five minutes." Iruka turned around and walked to the door.

"Okay, Iruka-sensei" Naruto said, pulling on his red t-shirt which was stuck on his head. "Eh…Iruka-sensei? A little help please?" Naruto was a little too late because Iruka had already left the room before the blonde could notice.

Sasuke was leanining on the wall outside when Iruka slid the door open.

"Ready to go?" Iruka asked.

"Yea, but where's Naruto?"

"I'm right here!" Naruto said running out of the door while still trying to slip his arm through the sleeve of his black jacket.

"Good, lets go." Iruka said as they began their walk to the academy building.

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in the same seats from the previous day and waited patiently for the students to fill into the classroom. Naruto was slowly dozing off when a voice awakened him once again.

"Eh…Naruto?" Naruto looked up to see Inuzuka Kiba with his dog on his head standing nervously in front of his desk. He picked up his head and looked at him right in the eyes. Kiba twitched slightly and looked down at his feet to avoid eye contact. "Naruto…I-I want to…say sorry for what I did yesterday, so…I'm sorry." Naruto looked a little confused at him.

"I wasn't expecting you to come and apologize to me in person." Kiba chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, that's because my mom told me to." Kiba began to walk away but was stopped when a hand grabbed his arm which caused him to flinch slightly.

"Kiba…I'm sorry too." Kiba looked back at Naruto with a confusion written on his face. Before he could respond, Naruto continued to speak. "I was angry, but I shouldn't of hit you, especially not that hard. So I'm sorry and I hope you're okay now." Naruto said with a small smile which Kiba then returned.

"Thanks and it takes a lot more than a punch in the stomach to bring this Inuzuka down!" Kiba said while pumping his fists in the air and Akamaru barked happily on his head. Suddenly, Kiba was viciously shoved to the side by a bunch of love struck girls and was left in a corner to groan in pain. The girls surrounded the table where the heart throb Uchiha was currently sitting at. Naruto covered his ears to avoid listening to the girls fond over the boy sitting next to him, but noticed something was missing. Looking around, he realized that Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino were not among the group of screaming girls. Instead, they were sitting a few tables away, cautiously watching the scene from afar. Were they afraid to go near him after what had happened yesterday? He was pulled out of his thoughts when Iruka appeared from no where and forced the reluctant girls to take their seats so he could begin his lesson.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke had just finished their laps for today and walked over to Iruka, who was sitting under a tree. Iruka looked up from where he was sitting to see Naruto running towards him with Sasuke following close behind.

"Alright Iruka-sensei, What are we doing next?" Naruto was now jumping for joy in excitement and Sasuke was rolling his eyes.

"Okay, from what I observed at the academy, I pretty much now your strengths and weaknesses. Sasuke, you are the best in your class when it comes to taijutsu because of your natural flexibility and your chakra is above average for an academy student. I'm even aware that you can perform a katon jutsu. You were taught the Goukakyu no Jutsu, right?" Sasuke nodded. "You also have the second highest scores on the written exams."

"Then who scored higher?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Haruno, Sakura" Sasuke nodded. Sasuke knew the girl had no talent in ninjutsu or taijutsu, but he had to admit the girl was a complete bookworm. Iruka pointed over to Naruto. "Naruto, your scores are the lowest in the class, even below Shikamaru's and he sleep through most of the tests." Naruto hung his head in shame and embarrassment. "But…your stamina is incredibly high for someone your age and your probably the fastest runner in the class." Naruto beamed with all the praise and Sasuke looked confused.

"How is Naruto the fastest runner?" Sasuke asked.

"It is because of all his stamina. Believe it or not, when Naruto painted the hokage's faces, he was able to out run several chuunin before he was caught by an anbu." Sasuke looked at Naruto in shock who was grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Yea…so I guess all my pranks were good for my body." Naruto was smiling on the outside but in the inside…he was feeling hurt because he knew the real reason for his speed and so did Iruka. Growing up, Naruto had to learn how to run and hide from angry villagers to avoid beatings and every time he was too slow, he would just have to run faster the next time. He had to run to survive and that's how he spent his life up until now. In one quick moment, Iruka saw the pain in Naruto's eyes and decided to change the subject.

"Continuing what I was saying, Naruto you are practically a powerhouse. Hokage-sama told me you were born with large chakra reserves and right now your chakra level is at high chuunin-low jounin, maybe even higher." Sasuke continued to stare wide-eyed at Naruto. He never knew this about Naruto before. In fact, a few days ago, he barely even knew the kid. Iruka continued to speak. "When it comes to genjutsu, neither of you have any real talent for it now. So we are going to focus on taijutsu and ninjutsu. The hokage wants you guys to learn the basics first, so I'm going to teach you several academy ninjutsus and a taijutsu style."

"But aren't we already going to learn that in the academy?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Yes, but the rest of the class won't be learning any ninjutsus until next year so you guys are getting a head start. And the taijutsu style I'm going to teach you is slightly more advanced than the one taught in the academy. I usually teach all of my students equally, but it was a request from the hokage to train you two personally. So you guys will have an advantage over the rest of the class, but that doesn't mean you should stop trying to improve yourself. Once you learn this taijutsu style, you are free to create a style to call your own. Maybe even create several ninjutsus as well. Today, you will learn the taijutsu stances and soon you'll be able to use it in real combat. Okay, let's get started." Iruka spent the rest of the day teaching Naruto and Sasuke the taijutstu style. Sasuke learned it pretty quickly and surprisingly, so did Naruto. They were progressing a lot faster the Iruka imagined. Just a little more practice and then they could begin on ninjutsus.

Iruka, Naruto, and Sasuke spent the next few days either at the academy or at the training grounds. Each day at the academy, the girls fought over Sasuke again, while Naruto was completely ignored…again. Ino and Sakura were returning to their normal selves, but they would avoid the little blonde boy as much as possible. During training, they continued to practice their taijutsu by sparring with each other, and because they were both determined not to lose to each other, the spars would end in a draw with both boys ready to pass out from exhaustion. They would usually only take a break for lunch, but today was different. It was late in the afternoon and Naruto and Sasuke were lying on the grass, looking up at the sky. Iruka was unexpectedly summoned to the hokage's office so he told the boys that they could take a break for the evening. It was quiet except for the sound of the relaxing chirping of a small grasshopper or the hoots of an owl in the distance. Naruto sat with his arms folded behind his head and a smile on his face. Star gazing always brought back happy memories and the thought of them caused a small chuckle to escape Naruto's lips.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing…I was just thinking about how I used to do this with the old man when I was younger."

"Old man?" Sasuke flipped onto his stomach to look at Naruto.

"The hokage…I know I'm not supposed to call him that…Iruka-sensei has to remind me all the time, but I don't see him as the hokage." Naruto said, also flipping onto his stomach.

"Then what do you see him as?" Naruto laughed.

"An old man, of course."

"Doesn't he get mad." Naruto shook his head.

"No…he took care of me when I was a baby and he's like a grandfather to me…so he could never get mad at me." Naruto smiled before flipping onto his back again to look at the stars. "He used to do this with me all the time, but now he's too busy that he barely has time for me." Naruto lifted his head up to see Sasuke's upsidedown face frowning which caused Naruto to frown. "What?"

"Aren't you upset? I would be." Naruto closed his eyes and sighed before opening them up again to look at Sasuke.

"At first, I was, but he's still the hokage so I can't do anything about it. Besides, when he does have time to spend with me, I feel so happy." Naruto smiled again. "He taught me a lot of things…even about the stars." Naruto stretched out his arm and pointed at the sky. " Do you see that bright shiny one?" Sasuke looked up at where Naruto was pointing.

"What about it?"

"That's the north star. The old man once said that if you ever got lost, just look for that star and it will lead you home." He then moved his arm to point at another group of stars. "And that is the big dipper and the little dipper…they look like spoons." Sasuke flipped back onto the grass to look at the stars.

"What else did he teach you?" Sasuke asked.

"Stuff like reading and writing…even ninja stuff. He taught me how to gather my chakra and how to throw shuriken."

"But your not good at throwing shuriken." Naruto snorted.

"That's because he hasn't had time to help me practice!"

"Whatever" Naruto muttered some curses under his breath before returning his gaze to the stars above. It was silent once again for a few moments before Naruto spoke again.

"Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Have you ever done this before?" Sasuke hesitated before speaking.

"Once…with my mom. It was nice, but…my father said it was a waste of time. He said that I would never be a good ninja if I was staring at the stars instead of training…and when I did train…he was never proud of me." The last part was said in a soft voice but could still be heard by Naruto.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"My brother was a prodigy and my father wanted me to be just like him. He was a great ninja but no matter what… I will never be like him. I trusted him, but he turned out to be a monster and one day…I am going to kill him." Naruto was surprised, Sasuke had never opened up to him before and now he knew why. He was angry and hurt. Not only because he had lost his family, but because he was betrayed by someone he had trusted. That is why he was so cold to everyone around. He was afraid of being hurt again and losing something important to him. He couldn't blame Sasuke for wanting to get revenge, but it wasn't worth doing something dangerous to achieve it. Naruto sighed.

"You know…even though stars are so far apart from each other…they never seem to be lonely. The old man once told me that when someone you care about dies…they are never really gone. They are with you forever in your heart as long as you remember them."

"Hn"

"What?"

"Your hanging around the hokage too much…your actually starting to sound smart." Naruto smiled.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Whatever" Sasuke closed his eyes as if he was going to sleep while Naruto looked at the twinkling sky happily. They sat quietly for another few minutes until Naruto got bored. He stood up and stretched his arms and let out a monstrous yawn with his eyes closed. When he reopened them, he was surprised to see a small pair of blue eyes staring back at him. In a tree not to far away, a hawk with a piercing gaze was perched on a high branch. It's feathers were all white that shined in the moonlight. The tail feathers were incredibly long for an average hawk which probably measured twice the size of the bird. For some reason, a small black scarf was tied around the bird's all white, neck as if to show it had an owner. Naruto had never seen a white hawk with blue eyes before…it was simply beautiful.

"Amazing." Naruto said to himself.

"What is?" Sasuke answered with his eyes still closed. Naruto had to pull away from staring at it's hypnotic blue eyes and walked over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Get up! You have to see this!" He pulled Sasuke onto his feet by force.

"What are you doing?!" What's going on?!" Sasuke was being pulled a few feet away from where he had been sitting.

"You have to see this bird! It's so cool and I've never seen-" Naruto stopped suddenly when he realized the bird was no longer there. "Hey! Where did it go?" Naruto said as he looked around the trees frantically trying to find it.

"You got all excited over a bird…dobe." Sasuke said as he walked back over to where he was sitting.

"But I'm telling you it was just there a second ago." Naruto said, never taking his eyes off the now vacant branch.

"It probably just flew away." Sasuke said.

"Yea…your probably right." Naruto said, giving up.

"Right about what?" Said a familiar voice that appeared from nowhere. Naruto turned around to find the source.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, what took you so long?"

"Sorry, the hokage asked for a report on your progress and I must say, he was quite surprised."

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"For boys your age…you two have advanced faster than expected…especially Naruto."

"Why me?"

"Well, usually you have trouble learning so the hokage thought that it would take a lot longer to teach you." Naruto pouted.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"He means that you are a dobe when it comes to learning anything" Sasuke interrupted with a smirk on his face.

"Don't call me dobe, Teme! Besides, Iruka-sensei doesn't think I'm a dobe, right Iruka-sensei?" He could feel the sweat rolling down the back of his head as he watched Iruka rub the back of his head and chuckle nervously. Naruto turned away so no one could see him sulking.

"Continuing what I was saying…the hokage thinks you both are more than ready to start learning ninjutsus." Naruto stopped walking and turned around with a shocked expression across his face.

"Really?" Iruka nodded.

"We will start tomorrow after class." Naruto was silent for a moment before breaking into a large grin.

"Yatta!" Naruto began jumping up and down happily. Sasuke could only roll his eyes at Naruto's actions. After a while Naruto stopped jumping around and was now in front of Iruka with a strange glint in his eyes. "What kind of jutsu are you gonna teach us? I hope it's a cool one! Can it take out a bunch of bad guys at once? Can you teach me how to shoot fire out of my mouth like Sasuke? Will it be super amazing? This is so awesome…I'm gonna be hokage in no time! What kind of-" Iruka put his hand over Naruto's mouth to stop his rambling while his other hand pinched the bridge of his scarred nose. He sighed and released his hand from Naruto's mouth when he was sure that he had calmed down.

"Naruto, you will find out tomorrow…so be patient." Iruka looked up at the star lit sky. "It's late…let's get something to eat and head home."

"Yea! Ichiraku ramen….here we come!" Sasuke groaned as they headed back to the street. Ichiraku ramen was a ten minute walk from the training grounds but the night was peaceful and the walk was enjoyable. The street lights were already illuminated and the civilians were getting ready to return home for the night. Iruka could still see the hokage tower in the dim light. Looking at the tower brought back memories of his visit only a short while ago. His mind was still processing what had occurred.

_Flashback_

"_-and they have already mastered the taijutsu style in only a few days."_

"_Very impressive…Those boys are fast learners." The hokage said, his pipe hovering in front of his face._

"_I expected that much from Sasuke, but Naruto surprises me. I didn't expect him to grasp the concept of that style so quickly." Iruka said._

"_For knowing Naruto all his life, you learn that the boy is always full of surprises." He took a long drag before releasing the smoke through his nostrils. "Start their ninjutsu training tomorrow."_

"_What?"_

"_Seeing on how quickly they've progressed, I think they are ready. I suggest you start with something simple."_

"_I wanted to wait a few more days…just to make sure they have mastered the taijutsu style and are capable of using it in combat."_

"_I'm more than sure that they are capable, Iruka. Besides…you might not have the few more days to wait." Iruka looked at him confused._

"_What do you mean hokage-sama?" The hokage sat up from his desk and looked out the window to see the view of the peaceful village._

"_Iruka, have you ever seen a white hawk with blue eyes before?"_

"_White hawk with blue eyes? No I haven't. I don't even think there is such a bird."_

"_That is where you're wrong, Iruka. There is only one hawk in existence that matches that discription and I had the pleasure of witnessing it this afternoon. Early this evening, a white hawk with blue eyes flew into this room. It wore a black scarf around it's neck and a note was tied to it's foot." The hokage opened the first drawer of his desk and pulled out a small scroll and handed it to Iruka._

_The summoning call has been received and accepted. When several days have come to pass, I will arrive._

_Iruka looked over to the hokage and handed him back the scroll. "What does this mean?"_

"_A few days ago, a summoning was performed and Naruto's blood was given. The man I have summoned has accepted Naruto as his apprentice. That is quite the surprise because this person has disconnected himself with the world for decades. From what this note says, he will arrive in a few day. That means Naruto will be leaving this village soon and won't be coming back for a long time. I don't know how many days exactly but I suggest you use the time left wisely." Iruka nodded his head. Iruka felt the need to ask the hokage a question, but was hesitant to do so._

"_A-Are you sure about this, hokage-sama?" He heard the old man sigh._

"_Honestly, I am not…but I am doing what I think is best for Naruto." Sarutobi looked over to the side wall where four pictures were hung. Each picture was a photo of one of the men that were proud to call themselves a hokage of Konoha. The picture to the far right caught Sarutobi's attention. It was a picture of a young blonde man with stunning blue eyes which were very rare in the village. There was only one other person that had eyes like those. 'Minato…if only you could see him now. I know one day he'll become the man you always wanted him to be.' Sarutobi turned to face Iruka. "Iruka, this conversation is confidential and no one should no about it…even Naruto." Iruka looked at him confused before nodding._

"_Hai, hokage-sama."_

"_You are dismissed." Iruka bowed his head and walked over to the door. "And Iruka…" Iruka turned his head to look back at the hokage._

"_Yes hokage-sama?"_

"_You're doing a great job." Iruka smiled softly._

"_Thank you, hokage-sama" Sarutobi smiled as he watched Iruka exit his office. 'Your parents would have been proud of you too, Iruka.'_

End of Flashback

Iruka was still confused about the whole matter but he knew the hokage was right. Naruto has spent so much time suffering in the village and he needs someone to help give him a fighting chance to survive. The only thing that worried Iruka was who this someone is and from the looks of it, the hokage had little information about this person himself. _I hope this person is someone that we can trust…for Naruto's sake. _Iruka was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to his right to see Naruto staring up at him.

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Iruka smiled and patted him on the head.

"I'm fine." Naruto looked over to Sasuke who was walking to the left of Iruka.

"Hey Sasuke! I'll race you to Ichiraku ramen." He said with his trademark grin.

"No"

"What's the matter? Afraid I'll win, teme?" Sasuke smirked.

"Your on, dobe." Without warning, they both took off at the same time leaving a smiling Iruka in the dust. Their training was not the only thing progressing. They've become close over the past few days, there is already a friendly rivalry between them. Iruka smiled as he continued to watch their figures fade away in the distance. He chuckled lightly before starting his slow paced walk to Ichiraku ramen stand. _Let's see what tomorrow will bring._

**End of Chapter Eleven**

**Please leave any comments or questions. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be out soon.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Sorry this took so long but I was away for awhile and I couldn't type this chapter up. But now it's done and you will be happy to hear that this is a very long chapter. Read and review! Don't be afraid to ask questions or make comments!

Enjoy!

* * *

Another day of training was beginning and Naruto Uzumaki was bouncing on his toes in excitement. Sasuke Uchiha stood with a bored expression, waiting for Iruka Umino to begin the new lesson. Iruka was finally going to teach them a ninjutsu. Iruka was sitting in the middle of their usual training ground with both boys standing a few feet in front of him. He sighed when he saw the looks on his students faces. Sasuke looked completely bored like he always did during class and Naruto was still smiling with anticipation. _I wish he was this eager for my lessons at the academy. _Iruka sighed again before speaking.

"This jutsu is very simple but also very useful." Iruka said while Naruto and Sasuke listened to his instructions attentively. They watched carefully as he performed the ram hand seal and shouted the word: _Henge_.

A puff of smoke appeared out of nowhere and completely engulfed Iruka until he was no longer visible. Naruto watched nervously, frantically trying to see past the white cloud to see what Iruka had done. The cloud slowly faded away and Naruto could now make out a figure in the smoke. Looking carefully, Naruto noticed that Iruka was no longer there but was replaced with someone shorter with black hair. Naruto eyes widened in shock when he realized who it was that was standing where Iruka was.

"Sasuke!? Why are you there? Where's Iruka-sensei?" Naruto was interrupted by the sound of a cough followed by the word dobe. Looking to his left, Sasuke was standing with his arms crossed, glaring at Naruto and then to his doppelganger. Naruto stood silent, looking back and forth between the two Sasukes which were both glaring at each other.

"Wow! How did you do that Sasuke? That's so cool, now there's two Sasukes. I want two of me." The Sasuke on his left groaned.

"That's not me. That's Iruka. He only transformed into me." Naruto looked over to the other Sasuke who was smiling at his confused expression.

"That's so weird" Naruto said. The doppelganger shook his head.

"Naruto, it's just a transformation jutsu that makes you change your appearance into anything you want."

"No… I meant seeing Sasuke smiling…I've never seen him smile like that. It's kind of weird." Naruto turned to look at the original Sasuke who was frowning at the comment. The other Sasuke released the jutsu and was surrounded in a cloud of smoke once again until Iruka was now standing in front of them.

"Alright, the henge jutsu is a very easy justu and I'm sure you both will master it in no time."

"What's the point of learning a jutsu like that?" All eyes turned to face Sasuke. "You cannot even use it in combat so it's completely useless."

"That's were your wrong, Sasuke. Even though the henge jutsu is not very helpful when it comes to fighting your opponent. It is very effective when it comes to infiltration. For example, say you are given a mission where you need to break into enemy lines without alerting the enemy of your presence. The best solution is stealth. One tactic is to henge into a person on the enemy's side and sneak in. It is very effective and has been used countless times…especially in the last Great shinobi war."

"How do you know what person to henge into? Wouldn't that person know you are a fake?" Naruto asked.

"Well…It is best to henge into someone that was eliminated without the enemy knowing." Naruto gulped down the lump in his throat. He would feel awful to kill someone and then steal their identity, but if he was to become a shinobi…it would be something that he must one day face. Iruka seemed to read Naruto's mind.

"Don't worry, something like that is done when you are a more experienced shinobi. So you won't face that problem any time soon. But for this lesson, I will have you both transform into me. Once you have achieved a perfect transformation, we will practice on sustaining the jutsu as long as possible. Lets begin." The rest of the day was spent performing the henge jutsu which both boys were able to master. At first, Naruto had trouble on creating a perfect copy of Iruka but with some encouragement and advice from Iruka, he was able to overcome that problem. Iruka was amazed on how quickly the boys learned the jutsu and it was even more amazing that they could hold the jutsu for incredibly long periods of time.

* * *

The next morning came quickly and Iruka, Naruto, and Sasuke found themselves walking down the street towards the academy. On the way, they passed the Yamanaka flower shop like they do every morning, but this morning was different. Ino came rushing out of the store and ran up to Sasuke.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun!" Ino smiled sweetly and Sasuke scowled. Naruto and Iruka stood a few feet away to watch the scene.

"Hn" Sasuke did not want to deal with this girl so early in the morning. Ino suddenly pulled a red rose from behind her back and held it up to Sasuke.

"I picked this for you, Sasuke-kun." He reluctantly took it from her hand. "Did you know roses are symbolic for love." Naruto was laughing silently at the look on Sasuke's face. Ino began to stare at the ground and started playing with the end of her skirt. "Well I was thinking…maybe me and you could-"

"Ino, where are you?!" A women's voice yelled from inside the store. Ino spun around to face the door.

"I'll be right there, mom!" Ino spun around again to face Sasuke. "I have to go, so I guess I'll see you in class." She spun on her heel once again and ran to the door. She looked over her shoulder and yelled. "See you later, Sasuke-kun, Iruka-sensei!" Then she disappeared into the store and Naruto, Sasuke and Iruka continued on their walk. Once they were a few yards away from the store, Sasuke tossed the rose into the nearest trashcan. Naruto frowned and shook his head, Sasuke looked at him.

"What?"

"What a waste of a perfectly good flower."

"I don't want it."

"Why not? It's pretty and she said she picked it herself."

"If she has the time to be picking flowers than she should use it to train instead. She will never be a good shinobi if she is focusing her time on me." Naruto stopped walking immediately.

"I know Ino can be annoying, but that is really mean." Iruka put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Unfortunately, Sasuke is right. Ever since the academy started, Ino and most of the other girls pay attention to Sasuke more than they do to their studies. If things continue like this, they will never make it as a shinobi of Konohagakure."

"It's their fault that they are wasting their own time on crushes instead of training. So there is no point in acknowledging them." Sasuke concluded.

"I guess your right. They are so focused on you, that they ignore other people like me." Naruto said sounding a little hurt.

"They don't ignore you, Naruto." Iruka said trying to comfort him.

"Oh really? Then tell me why Ino didn't even notice me standing here just now" Iruka looked shocked. He was right. Ino said goodbye to Sasuke and himself, but didn't even acknowledge Naruto's presence. Iruka could only stutter to say something.

"It's okay Iruka-sensei, I'm used to it." Sasuke felt bad for Naruto, he was always invisible while he was stuck in the spotlight. If only they could switch places for a day, then Naruto could get some attention while he gets to be left alone. Then Sasuke had a brilliant idea.

They had finally reached the academy with ten minutes to spare. Iruka walked over to the door, but Sasuke began to slow down. Iruka looked back to see him fall behind.

"Come on, Sasuke." Naruto looked back to Sasuke.

"I wanna hang out here till class starts." Iruka nodded.

"Okay, you can wait out here, I'm gonna head on in. Naruto, are you coming?" Naruto looked over to Iruka and then back to Sasuke who gave him a quick shake of his head.

"Uh…I guess I'll wait out here too."

"Okay" Iruka walked into the building and Sasuke walked over to the swing with Naruto following behind him.

"What are you doing?" Naruto watched as Sasuke looked around to see if anyone was watching. Once he confirmed it was safe, he faced Naruto.

"We are going to switch places." Naruto looked at him confused.

"What?" Sasuke sighed.

"We're gonna henge into each other for a day. We both know that we could keep the jutsu up until class is over, so nobody will know."

"B-But what about Iruka-sensei? He's gonna notice." Naruto said frantically.

"I'll explain my reason to him later."

"And what reason is that?"

"You could get the attention you want and I could be left alone for once."

"B-But I'll be getting attention because everyone will think I'm you."

"Do you got any better ideas?" Naruto paused for a moment.

"…No."

"Okay then. Don't do anything to blow your cover, just try to act like me."

"Oh! You mean act like a stuck up teme!" Naruto smiled while Sasuke scowled.

"Fine! And I'll just act like an idiot." Naruto and Sasuke switched expressions.

"I'm not an idiot!" Naruto pouted.

"Then stop acting like one. Now, lets hurry up before someone comes." They stood in front of each other and performed the necessary hand seal.

"Henge!" They said in unison before white smoke engulfed them. When the smoke dispersed, Naruto was standing where Sasuke was, and Sasuke was standing where Naruto was. They both examined each other's appearance before Sasuke's broke into a large grin.

"This is gonna be fun" Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"Hey guys!" The two boys were startled by the newcomer's voice and turned around to find the source. What they saw was Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi walking towards them. Shikamaru, a lazy boy with his hair in a spiky ponytail, was rubbing his eye, clearly he was still tired, and Chouji, a chubby young boy with spirals on his cheeks, was snacking on a bag of barbeque chips in his hand. Naruto gently leaned towards Sasuke.

"Remember, act like me." He whispered and Sasuke nodded. Naruto then put on a fake smile and waved to the approaching boys.

"Morning guys" Shikamaru looked back and forth between the smiling Naruto and the emotionless Sasuke.

"Why are you standing outside for? Class is about to start."

"Just getting some fresh air. Right, Sasuke?" Sasuke just folded his arms.

"Hm"

"Okay…since when did you two become friends?" Naruto looked worried when Shikamaru began looking suspicious.

"We're not, it's just I have to live at Sasuke's house for awhile cause my apartment was destroyed." Shikamaru looked surprise.

"Destroyed?! What happened?" Naruto looked over to Sasuke who was staring at the floor. He was about to say something before Sasuke interrupted.

"Fire…burnt it down." Sasuke said, still staring at the ground. Shikamaru looked curiously at him before accepting his answer. He looked back over to Naruto.

"Man…that's sucks. Well, sorry to hear that." Shikamaru looked over to Chouji. "Well, we should head inside." Shikamaru and Chouji walked to the door with Naruto and Sasuke not too far behind. Shikamaru leaned over to Chouji. "Those two are acting different." Chouji nodded his head in agreement as he stuck another chip into his mouth. "It's troublesome, but I kinda feel bad for them. I would hate to live with either one of them." Shikamaru said before walking into the building.

"That was close." Sasuke sighed.

"Yeah, but I don't think he suspects anything." Naruto said.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Just stay calm and everything will be fine." The boys walked into the classroom and took their seats. Naruto and Sasuke had to remember to switch spots so no one would suspect anything. Iruka was too busy with the work on his desk to notice anything different. It wasn't long before the other students walked into the classroom. Most of the girls began to surround Sasuke like they do every morning and Naruto sat quietly with his hands folded in front of him. Sasuke looked worried by the number of girls surrounding him, he was not used to all of this attention before and he didn't know what to do. He looked over to Naruto who was smirking at his situation. _That teme…he's the only one enjoying this. _He didn't want to blow his cover so he did what the real Sasuke would do, act like a jerk and ignore all of them. Naruto sat patiently, waiting for Iruka to start the class when Kiba Inuzuka appeared next to him.

"Hey dead last, Shikamaru told me everything, and I gotta say it sucks to be you right now." Naruto looked at Kiba dead in his eye before speaking.

"And why is that?" Kiba flinched unintentionally. The cold tone in Naruto's voice gave him an uneasy feeling, but he shook it off quickly.

"You have to live with that snobby Uchiha. I can't stand him, I mean, look at him." Kiba gestured over to Sasuke and Naruto turned to look at him. He was doing a good job of ignoring the girls that were currently fawning over him and Naruto smirked inwardly when he saw Sasuke's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "He thinks he's so much better than everyone. If I were you, I would show him whose the top dog around here." Kiba was really starting to irritate Naruto.

"You know Kiba, he's not that bad." Kiba laughed lightly.

"Not that bad! If you were never forced to live at his place, do you think he would of ever bothered to even speak to you?" Naruto stayed silent for a moment. On the inside, he felt angry. Partially about what Kiba said, but he was mostly angry at himself. He knew Kiba was right. If the real Naruto had never came to live with him, he would of ignored him like he did with everyone else. He started to wonder how his life would of turned out if he never started training with Naruto after class, if Naruto never came to live with him…if he was not there the day he found Naruto cornered in an alley by that chuunin. He was actually glad that Naruto came into his life on that one rainy day, and as he looked over to the fake Sasuke, he wondered if he thought the same thing about him. Class was about to begin and Naruto was startled when Kiba suddenly slapped his back.

"Well, I better go sit down before I get in trouble." Kiba said, oblivious of Naruto's glare. As Kiba walked away, he titled his head over his shoulder. " I think you're hanging around Sasuke too much, you're starting to smell like him." He said before walking off. Naruto was slightly worried, but he knew Kiba was too stupid to realize something was different. Naruto looked back at Sasuke who was trying to ignore the girls around him. Naruto suddenly felt like he was being watched and turned his head to find the staring eyes. His fake blue eyes met lavender ones that quickly turned away in embarrassment. _Why was she staring at me like that? Don't tell me she figured it out? _Then Naruto realized something. _Is she blushing? Does she like me…I mean Naruto?_ The blushing, lavender eyed girl was none other than Hinata Hyuuga. The heiress to a clan with a doujutsu almost as powerful as the Sharingan, the byakugan. He watched as she played with her fingers, desperately trying to avoid his gaze. Naruto turned back to face the front of the classroom, a smirk graced his lips. _I should tell Naruto that he isn't as invisible as he thinks. _Naruto watched as Sasuke tried to sink into his chair to hide from the adoring fan club. _Or maybe he can figure it out on his own. _

"Alright, everyone back to their seats." Iruka shouted to get the class's attention. Sasuke sighed in relief as he watched the girls scurry back to their seats. Iruka waited a minute for the class had settled down. His gaze looked over each and every one of their faces until he stopped at Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto noticed this and flinched slightly when Iruka closed his eyes and smiled. _Damn it…He knows! _The fake Naruto was panicking on the inside. They were caught and were going to get in trouble.

"Naruto" Sasuke looked up at Iruka and was about to respond when Naruto interrupted.

"Y-Yes…Iruka-sensei?" He said hesitantly. Sasuke sat nervously, watching Naruto's tense face and Iruka's smiling one.

"Please pay attention to today's lesson." Iruka winked in his direction and Naruto released the breath that he didn't know he was holding. He looked over to Sasuke who had relaxed as well. The rest of the day went smoothly while Iruka lectured on about the ninja rules that all shinobi must follow. Class was almost over and Naruto and Sasuke were relieved that they had made it through the day without being caught by one of their classmates. Naruto was sitting with his elbows on his desk and his hands folded under his chin. Most of the girls in the classroom looked confused as the stared at Sasuke They wondered why Sasuke was slouched over the desk and looked like he was sleeping but came up with a reasonable excuse of all night training. Of course that was the reasonable explanation on why Sasuke-kun was snoring on the table. He had spent all night training to get stronger than he already was. But one thing that confused them and angered them even more was the fact that Naruto, the dead-last was glaring at Sasuke's sleeping form. Sasuke was finally woken by the sound of Iruka's voice and the mentioning of a very important announcement. Sasuke sat up, half asleep, trying his best to listen to what had to be said.

"Tomorrow you will be tested on the ninja rules that I discussed today, so study hard. You are dismissed." The students slowly rose from their seats and exited the classroom, single filed. Naruto stood up from his seat and looked over to Sasuke. He was surprised to see his pale skin was even more pale and he was trembling uncontrollably.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" The fake Naruto asked, slightly worried.

"T-T-T-Test?!" Naruto could see how nervous Sasuke was getting…after all he never did well on written exams. Naruto sighed and pulled Sasuke by the shirt who yelped in shock. Naruto dragged Sasuke down the steps towards Iruka's desk. Iruka looked up from a stack of papers towards the frowning blonde. He folded his arms and smiled.

"I've got to say that I'm impressed with the both of you. I didn't expect you to keep the jutsu up for that long." Naruto looked at him slightly confused.

"You're not mad?" Iruka shook his head.

"I understand why you did it. You wanted to help each other out and that's okay with me. Besides…you also got some more practice done too. Alright, you can release the jutsu now." Naruto nodded and both boys were surrounded in smoke until they had their rightful identities once again. Sasuke then pulled on the still trembling Naruto's arm.

"Can you do something about him now? He hasn't stopped shaking since you mentioned the exam tomorrow." Iruka chuckled lightly.

"He always gets like this before a test and because he never studies, he always fails. And I'm not surprised if he had slept through today's lessons as well."

"What's he going to do?" Sasuke asked.

"He's not going to fail again, I can tell you that. The best thing is to get him a tutor."

"What about training?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"It's cancelled today. I want you to spend the rest of the day studying. I expect good grades from both of you or I will cancel your training permanently." Sasuke scowled at the thought. He was now depending on Naruto's grades and it wasn't looking too good.

"So you want us to study together?" Iruka shook his head.

"I don't want you helping Naruto with this. I have someone else in mind to be his tutor. I'm sure you don't mind studying on your one, right?" Sasuke could only nod his head. Iruka reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small book. " Take this…it's the ninja rule book. It will help you study. I'm sure you remember what rules we discussed today so go on home and go over them again. I'll take care of Naruto." Sasuke nodded and walked out of the classroom with the book in hand. Iruka looked over to Naruto. " Come on Naruto, we have someone to go find." Iruka stood up and walked out of the classroom with Naruto not too far behind. They walked out of the building and down the street. Naruto looked curiously up at Iruka.

"Um…Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes?" Iruka looked down at Naruto.

"How come you don't want Sasuke to help me study?" Iruka smiled and looked straight ahead.

"I'm glad that the two of you have become such good friends, but he doesn't have to be your only friend. I want you to interact with your other classmates and try to make more friends."

"Who is my tutor?"

"There she is now." Iruka pointed to a small playground in front of them. Naruto looked carefully, trying to figure out where he was pointing. He looked over to a bench were two young girls were currently sitting. Naruto's eyes widened when he realized who he was talking about.

"Her?! You want her to help me?!" Iruka started to walk over to the bench.

"I told you once that she had the best scores in the class so I'm sure that she will do well on tomorrow's test."

"Yea, but why did it have to be her." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Hello Sakura, Ino" Iruka stood in front of the bench with Naruto hiding behind him. The two girls looked up to their sensei.

"Hi Iruka-sensei. Do you need something?" Ino asked.

"Actually yes I do…I came to ask Sakura for a favor." Sakura looked hesitant for a second before nodding. She stood up and walked over to Iruka. Ino watched silently as they spoke quietly. "I know class is over and I hate to disrupt you while playing with your friends, but I need a tutor and I was wondering if you could help."

"Sure Iruka-sensei. Who do you want me to tutor?" Iruka sidestepped to bring Naruto out of hiding.

"Naruto here needs some help for the exam tomorrow. If you don't mind…can you help him?" Sakura frowned when she saw Naruto standing next to Iruka. "Please Sakura…Can you do this for me? Iruka said with a sweet smile. She sighed and nodded. Iruka pulled out a small book from his back pocket. "Use this to help you study. Naruto, pay attention to Sakura. Remember what I told you if you fail this exam." Naruto gulped and nodded. "Good, I will see you later. Good bye." Iruka walked off leaving Sakura and Naruto on their own. Sakura sighed again and walked over back to the bench were Ino was sitting.

"What was that about?" Ino asked curiously.

"Iruka-sensei picked me to tutor Naruto for the test tomorrow" Ino shrugged.

"Of course he picked you, who knows how much stuff you have behind that big forehead of yours." Sakura scowled.

"More things than you, Ino-pig" Ino jumped off the bench to stand in front of Sakura.

"What did you call me, Billboard Brow?" They were both glaring daggers at each other until another voice interrupted.

"Um…I-If you don't mind…Can we start studying?" They looked over to the little blonde boy who was standing nervously next to them. Sakura looked back at Ino, giving her one last dirty look before grabbing Naruto by the arm and walking off. Ino watched them leave before leaving the playground herself. Naruto walked a few steps behind. He felt embarrassed about the whole situation. He knew he wasn't the smartest kid in the academy but he knew he needed to pass the next exam if he wanted to continue his training. If Sasuke ever found out about this, he would never hear the end of it. He was so nervous that he just watched his feet as he shuffled behind Sakura. He couldn't even look her in the eye without feeling embarrassed. He could only watch her back as her pink hair swayed back and forth as she walked.

Her hair was an odd color but that just made her unique. Her hair was short, it didn't even reach her shoulders and her bangs framed her face. Her hair style was similar to Ino's but Ino had her bangs on one side and a clip in the other. Sakura wore a red ribbon in her hair which was tied into a perfect bow. Sakura seemed confident in herself now then when she first entered the academy several months ago. Naruto remembered that she used to sit in the back of the classroom by herself and her bangs used to hide her face. She was alone like he was and he wanted to do something to help her. He had wanted to talk to her for so long but when he finally worked up the courage, she had changed. She came to class one day with a smile on her face which her bangs no longer covered. She was no longer sitting in the back by herself, but up front with the blonde hair and blue-eyed, Ino Yamanka. It looked like she had made friends with Ino the day before. Naruto was happy to see her smile. It was so beautiful that it made his heart start thumping loudly. He had liked Sakura Haruno for quite sometime but now he felt like he was completely in love.

Days went by and he tried his best to gain her attention. Each attempt was a failure but he was determined to never give up. One day, Naruto spent the morning picking a large bouquet of flowers. Today was the day he was going to tell Sakura how he felt. He was walking down an empty street when he finally found her. Nervous, he quickly hid behind a large oak tree before she could see him. He could hear the she was not alone, but with a group of kids from the academy. Naruto could only watch her from behind the tree, he wanted to wait until she was alone to confess his feelings. Looking at his pink haired crush he noticed that she was smiling more brightly than usual. He watched carefully as she ran up to the other kids.

"Hey! guess what?" She shouted with joy. The other kids just looked at her curiously. "I have a crush on someone." One of the kids snorted.

"Don't tell us it's Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura looked at them confused.

"How did you know?" Another kid laughed.

"You're not the only one. Every girl in our class has a crush on him." Sakura looked disappointed for a second before smiling again.

"Well I'm not going to give up. I will try my best to get him to fall in love with me." At that moment Naruto felt a painful feeling in his chest. It felt like he had a huge hole where his heart used to be. He could feel the hot tears swelling up in his eyes. The only thing he could do was run…run far away…leaving the bouquet of flowers to blow away in the wind. He ran all the way to his apartment where he cried himself to sleep. After that day, the loud thumping in his chest went away and was replaced with a sharp painful feeling every time he looked at Sakura again. It took a long time for him to heal but eventually he had forced himself to no longer feel anything at all for the pink haired girl. Now he was trying his best not to let any of those emotions return. They kept walking until Sakura took Naruto to an empty bench at the other side of the park and sat down. Naruto sat on the end of the bench as far from her as possible.

"Alright, this might take awhile so lets get started." She opened the book and scanned for the right page. "Found it… okay so we'll start at rule number fifteen." She looked over to Naruto who was trying to look at the book from afar. "Why don't you sit closer so you could see the book?" Naruto hesitantly moved closer to Sakura before they both looked down at the book. They spent the afternoon going over the ninja rules until Sakura felt that he memorized them well enough. She got up from the bench and handed him the book.

"I think you will do well on the test tomorrow." He looked up at her surprised.

"Really?" She nodded.

"You have pretty good memory…when your paying attention." Naruto mumbled a thanks before getting up himself.

"I guess I should head home now. See you tomorrow." He said before turning to walk away.

"Wait, Naruto." Turning around, he noticed that she looked nervous for some reason. " Can I ask you something?"

"Uh…sure."

"Are you really living at Sasuke-kun's house?" Naruto looked at her confused and surprised.

"Who told you that?"

"Ino told me that she overheard Shikamaru tell Kiba that your staying at Sasuke-kun's house. Is it true?" Naruto sighed.

"Yea it is. But it's only temporary until I could get a new place to live. My old apartment caught on fire and burned down."

"Sorry to hear that." She tried to sound as sympathetic as possible. "So does that mean you and Sasuke-kun are friends now?" Naruto had to think for a second.

"Um….I-I guess so. Why?" She looked down nervously at her feet.

"C-Can you ask him….what he thinks about me?" Naruto frowned.

"Why do you like him so much?" Sakura looked up at him.

"…W-What?"

"Sasuke is mean to you but you still like him. Why?" Sakura frowned as well.

"Sasuke-kun is just having a hard time…I'm sure-"

"Don't try to make up excuses for him. He's always been like that since the beginning."

"You have no right to be saying that! I thought you were his friend!"

"I am! It's not Sasuke's fault that every girl in class has a crush on him. I just hate seeing how you try so hard to get him to go out with you just to be rejected. Why do you purposely try to get hurt? It's so hard to protect someone when they are the ones causing themselves pain."

"Why would someone like you want to protect me?!"

"Because…" He said in a low voice. "I-I don't…want to see you cry ever again." Sakura stood frozen with shock.

"Again? W-When did you-"

"It was before we started going to the academy. We met once before when we were five…but you probably don't remember. I was walking around the park when I heard a bunch of kids laughing. When I found them, I saw you on the floor crying. They were calling you names and were making fun of your forehead. I got mad when I saw you cry so I ran to defend you." Naruto stopped talking when he saw that Sakura's eyes were wide with realization.

"T-That was you?" Naruto nodded. She looked up at him, studying his facial features carefully. She couldn't remember the little boy's face because his back was facing her when he came to defend her. All she could remember was his wild golden hair and the old tattered shirt the boy was wearing. "You were the little boy that got beaten up when he tried to save me." She said in a low whisper.

"So you remember now?"

"Yea, you were beaten really bad. The hokage even came and had to take you to the hospital. I was so afraid that I forgot to ask for your name. I even tried to visit you at the hospital a few days later but the nurse said that you weren't there." Naruto looked surprised.

"You came to visit me?" He was suddenly startled when he felt her against him. Her small arms were wrapped around his back and her face was pressed into his black jacket. It was the first time a girl had hugged Naruto like that and it felt awkward to him so the only thing he could do was stand there.

"I'm so glad you were alright after that. I went to the hospital because I wanted to thank you but you were gone and I didn't know who you were." She mubbled into his jacket. They stood like that for what seemed like forever before Sakura let go of Naruto.

"I'm so sorry Naruto. I should have been a better friend to you instead of saying mean things to you all the time." Naruto looked at her confused.

"…F-Friend?" He repeated questionably.

"Well…I was hoping that we can be friends…I owe you that much. Is that okay with you?" She waited patiently for his answer.

"Y-You want to be friends…with me?" He asked still confused. She giggled at his expression and nodded. He stared in shock before breaking into a bright smile.

"I would love to be friends with you Sakura." She giggled again before sticking her hand out in front of her.

"Friends?" Naruto took her hand and shook it firmly.

"Friends!" Hand in hand, they smiled happily to their new friend before Sakura spoke again.

"But just so you know, I'm still going to try my best to get Sasuke to notice me." Naruto smiled cheerfully, still holding on to her hand.

"Good luck with that!" He said, almost too cheerfully. At that moment, a feminine voice interrupted the moment.

"Sakura! Time for dinner!" Sakura turned to face the voice.

"Okay mom!" She yelled back before turning back to Naruto. " I have to go now so I guess I'll see you tomorrow. She quickly ran off to the direction of the voice. Naruto was about to go home himself when Sakura suddenly turned around. "Good luck on the test tomorrow! Try your best, I know you can pass." Naruto smiled and waved as he shouted his goodbyes as well. Once she was out of his sight, he turned to the general direction of Sasuke's house and began walking. He kicked the dirt under his feet and his smile was now gone. "_Friends…I guess that's all we can ever be."_

* * *

"Alright hand in your papers and then you are dismissed." Iruka shouted from the front of the room. One by one, each child placed their test on the wooden desk and then left the room to enjoy the rest of the day. Naruto and Sasuke waited patiently for everyone to leave. Testing days were always the same. Sakura Haruno was the first one to finish the test while Shikamaru Nara was always the last because he would fall asleep at some point during the test. Naruto watched everyone leave the room while Sasuke glared out the window. He watched as Sakura gathered her stuff and get up to leave when suddenly Ino appeared at her side. He watched carefully when their small conversation grew into a full blown argument on who did better on the exam. When they were just about to walk out of the classroom door Sakura suddenly stopped and turned her head to face him. She looked at him carefully before she smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Ino looked at her confused as she followed her pink haired rival out the door and down the hall. Naruto didn't realize he was still smiling until he heard the person next to him clear his throat.

"When did you and Sakura become friends?" Sasuke asked. Iruka curiosly looked up from grading papers, interested to hear his answer. Naruto was still smiling brightly.

" For a long time. We just didn't know it." Sasuke and Iruka looked at each other confused before they looked back at the blonde eight-year old. Iruka went back to grading papers and was excited to see that he was now holding Naruto's test. One question after another, he looked over each answer for corrections. When he was done, he carefully placed his pen on the desk and looked over to Naruto.

"Naruto?"

"Yea, Iruka-sensei?"

"Did you study hard yesterday?" Iruka asked with a stern voice. Naruto gulped nervously.

"…Y-Yea" Iruka turned back to his desk and picked up the test paper from the top of the pile.

"Congratulations, you passed with flying colors!" He cheered happily. Naruto snatched the paper out of his hand and began dancing with joy.

"Yes! A 93! I passed! I'm so awesome! Ha! Beat that Sasuke!" He said, sticking his test paper in Sasuke's face. Sasuke was holding his own test paper in his hand that read a score of 98. Sasuke had a smug look on his face and was holding out two fingers in victory. Naruto frowned and turned away, mumbling profanities under his breath.

"As promised…" Iruka said, standing up from his desk. "let's continue your training. Now that you both have mastered the henge jutsu…I'm going to reward you by teaching you a new jutsu." Naruto smiled.

"Alright! Let's get started!" He cheered excitedly.

* * *

"That's wrong again Naruto! Try again!" Naruto was panting heavily but he wasn't going to give up. Gathering his chakra once again, he formed the ram seal.

"Bunshin no jutsu!" he shouted and two clouds of smoke appeared by his side. When the smoke finally dissipated, two ill looking Narutos were laying flat on the ground. Iruka shook his head in disappointment and Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Those are your worst clones yet, Naruto! Sasuke can produce five perfect clones easily while you cannot even create one decent looking one." Naruto frowned. The two sickly clones vanished from existence with a pop. Iruka sighed. "Besides you've already exhausted most of your chakra and it's getting late. Let's continue this tomorrow."

"Wait Iruka-sensei! Just one more try...please." Naruto begged. Iruka sighed again.

"Fine…just one more try and then we-"

"IRUKA!" A chuunin appeared in front of Iruka instantly, panting heavily with a worried expression on his face.

"What is it, Kotetsu?!"

"Intruders…in the village…stole the forbidden scroll." He said in between pants. Iruka's eyes widened in fear.

"You don't mean the scroll of sealing, do you?" Kotetsu nodded his head.

"We were ordered by the hokage…to locate the scroll and stop the intruders." He said, now catching his breath. Iruka turned to his two students quickly who were staring at him curiously.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Return to the house! It's not safe at the moment!" Iruka commanded.

"But Iruka-sensei-"

"No buts, Naruto! Go now!" Iruka said before running off with the other chuunin.

"Come on Naruto. We should hurry and do what he says." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded and they both took off running into the trees towards Sasuke's house. They ran for awhile, too dark to see where they were going. Naruto, still tired out from training, was falling behind as he pushed his way through the bushes. He could feel the small branches catching onto his clothing, holding him back as Sasuke was running further and further ahead. Fear was building up inside him when he realized he could no longer see Sasuke in the dark shadows of the trees surrounding them.

It was darker than usual and the only source of light was the full moon above. Sasuke had the path memorized but everything seemed so different in the dark. The only thing he was sure of was the fact that Naruto was no longer behind him. When Sasuke had finally stopped running to take a breather, he realized that Naruto was not following him_. He must have tripped or something and fell behind_. Sasuke thought to himself as he ran back calling Naruto's name and listening for a response. He waited and waited but all he could hear was complete silence. Not even the animals in the trees would make a sound. Sasuke was worried. He knew there were intruders in the village and if they were able to steal something so important, than they must be strong. Sasuke felt something swelling up in his chest. It was something he hadn't felt since that fateful day six months ago. A day he hated to remember and caused him pain everyday. He was afraid…for his life…and his friend's.

* * *

Naruto's perspective

"Uh…ouch!" Just great! I'm stuck. Sasuke is gonna laugh his head off if he sees me like this. I can already hear him calling me a dobe already. And he's right. How embarrassing this is to be caught in a bush by your pants. And what's even worse is the fact that my clothes are ripping. Oh well…I guess I should be used to torn clothes like this. Maybe if I try to crawl my way out.

I put my hands into the dirt and I could feel the mud squish in between my fingers. I pushed my knees into the dirt until I had a firm grip. Using all the might I had, I pulled and twisted myself free from the bushes. Finally, I was free. I picked myself off the ground and tried my best to dust the dirt off my clothes. Inspecting my clothing carefully, I noticed the large rips and tears in my jacket and my pants. I was filthy and needed a hot shower as soon as possible. Now if I can only find Sasuke. I couldn't pin point the location I saw him run in. Each direction looked the same to me. I began to walk aimlessly through the trees hoping to fight my way out. As each second ticked by, the sky got darker and darker. I hated to admit it but I was feeling scared. Being alone in the dark was not one of my favorite things to be doing. If only I could find Sasuke…

The rustling in the trees caught my attention. The wind was not blowing hard enough to shake the tree tops like that. There was more noise. Voices I could not recognize. Curiosity overwhelmed me as I felt my body move on it's own towards the voices. There was some hope in the back of my mind. Maybe I would run into some ninjas out here that can help me get back home. I hurried my pace, following the voices into a small clearing. I could see three figures huddled by a small wooden shack not to far in the distance. Finally, I found some human life. I laughed lightly to the thought of being able to go home and take a shower and forget this whole nightmare.

"What's so funny, Kid?" I was startled by the sound of a deep, husky voice behind me. I pivoted on my toes to face the stranger. There in the darkness stood a man three times my height. He was probably taller than Iruka-sensei by an extra foot. He wore a black vest with a grey shirt underneath. The sleeves on the shirt were rolled up to his shoulders to show off his lean, muscular arms. A long jagged scar, about an inch wide and five inches long, ran down his left forearm. He wore a pair of dark grey sweats with black boots on each foot. His fingers were toying with the strap of his weapon holster on his right leg while his other hand was jabbed deep into his pants pocket. His face was rough, covered in small scars and burns. His dark spiky hair was raised up by the headband on his forehead. Several diagonal dashes were carved into the metal plate with one long line slashed horizontally across. He smiled down at me. His lips curved into a smirk. He stared menacingly at me, my blue eyes locked with his black ones. His gruff voice startled me once again.

"What's a kid like you doing out here so late? Don't you know it's dangerous to be in the woods alone at night?" My mind screamed at me, _Run! Run away!_, but my body was frozen stiff. The man could see the fear in my eyes and a dark, hollow laugh escaped his lips. In one swift moment, the man grabbed me by one arm and ran out into the clearing. I could hear the forgotten voices get louder and louder until the suddenly stopped with our approach. The man slowed his running down to a stop and dropped me to the floor.

" Look what I caught." I could hear the amused tone in the man's voice.

"What a cute little boy!" said a feminine voice, a girl in the group. She inched closer to me and crouched low to see my face in the moon light. Like the first man, she wore a black vest with a grey shirt and black shorts. The sleeves of the shirt were long enough to hide her hands. She wore a pair of black boots as well but they came up to her knees. She smiled sweetly at me with her big brown eyes. Her brown hair was tied up into a long ponytail that came down her back with some stray hairs falling in front of her face. Unlike the first man, she wore her headband around her neck. The symbol on the metal plate was different as well. From what I could tell, it looked like some kind of cloud or something but it too was slashed right through the middle. She stood up to look at the man standing behind her, in the shadows. I realized that the women was the shorter than the first man by at least two feet and the second man behind her was taller than her by a few inches. " What do you think Hiroto?"

"He doesn't even look like a genin yet? Still wet behind the ears, I'm guessing." The second man walked into the light where I could get a better look. There were a few similarities in looks between him and the girl. He too had brown eyes and his brown hair was pulled into a small ponytail behind his neck. He wore a brown worn out jacket with a pair of black sweats and brown ninja sandels. He didn't wear a shirt under the jacket so his chest was visibly bare. He too was lean but not as muscular as the first man. There were many scars along his chest as well, a lot of experience in battle like the first man. His headband was tied around his arm with the same symbol on the metal plate as the women. They were probably related, maybe even twins determining from their looks. "Where did you find him, Tarou?"

"He was crawling in the bushes on the east side. Do you think he could be a spy for Konoha?" The first man responded. The women shook her head.

"Doubt it. He just looks lost. Poor little boy…you must be terrified." She said in a comforting tone. The second man laughed.

"You're the one whose scaring him with all of that baby talk, Hiroko" The girl pouted and crossed her arms across her chest. The man known as Hiroto looked back to me. "What should we do with the kid?"

"Oooh! I got an idea!" The girl, Hiroko said with a grin on her face.

"We're not bringing him with us, so forget it!" Hiroto said as if he could read her thoughts.

"And why not?" Hiroko questioned.

"Because I don't want to deal with some cry baby." The other man laughed lightly.

"I think he's tougher than that, right kid?" Suddenly, I was violently shoved into the dirt with Tarou's boot pressing into my back. "Let's play a game. You'll hide and I'll seek" He said while pulling a kunai out of his holster.

"Come on Tarou, he's just a little kid!" Hiroko yelled.

"He's with them! He's a kid now, but what 'bout when he's a ninja. Another damn leaf ninja fighting to destroy the rest of us. Let's show him what we do with future leaf ninjas." He said with a wicked grin on his face and the kunai twirling between his fingers. My heart was racing at the thought of what they were planning to do with me.

"Just don't cut him up too bad. They'll need to be able to recognize his body, later on." Hiroto said, leaning casually against the trunk of a tree with Hiroko sitting by his feet. By the look on her face, she was still pouting. I felt myself being lifted off the ground by the back of my jacket and then shoved into the side of the wooden shed. The man's arm was across my chest, holding me firmly against the wall. Another laugh escaped his lips as he took the kunai firmly in his hand and than held the blade at my neck. The thought of déjà vu raced through my mind, it was the same situation again. Three dangerous strangers in the middle of the night who were planning to kill me. The only difference was that these strangers were going to kill me because I was from Konoha and the first time was because of the demon sealed away in my body. At least these people were a lot kinder. Suddenly, the blade was embedded into my right arm and the sound of my screaming echoed through the night. The man laughed again and lifted his arm back to make another stab.

"That's enough Tarou!" The man's arm was held back by the head of a cane. The cane had a very intricate design of a dragon's head with yellow eyes. Standing behind Tarou was a man much older wearing a black hood that covered his face from my sight. Tarou did what he was told and released me from his grip. I fell to the floor hard but I was more concerned with the blood coming down my arm. I held my hand tightly around the cut to stop the bleeding. The stinging caused me to wince in pain. Looking back up, the man had released the cane from Tarou's arm and was walking away. "There is no need to waste time on this boy. We have the Scroll of Sealing so there's no reason to stay here any longer." I was shocked to hear what the man had just said. My mind flashed back to a memory from earlier today.

"_Intruders…in the village…stole the forbidden scroll." _

"_You don't mean the scroll of sealing, do you?" _

"_We were ordered by the hokage…to locate the scroll and stop the intruders." _

How could I not notice the large scroll on Tarou's back. That must be the scroll of sealing and that would mean that these were the intruders in the village. The whole village was searching for these people so the scroll must be extremely important and to steal something this important must mean that these people were highly skilled. My only hope was to call for help but I was probably too far into the forest to be heard. Maybe I could run…but I would never be able to outrun them. Well I've got to try. I'll wait for my chance when they had forgotten my presence or let their guard down and then I would make a run for it. At the moment, they were huddled together discussing something near the tree. Must be planning their escape. Then Tarou slid the scroll off his shoulder and placed it by his feet. Perfect! This was my chance. Slowly, I sat up into a crouch position with my hand still pressed onto my bleeding shoulder. On the count of three I would make my move.

1...2...3! I launched myself towards the group at full speed. I must have taken them by surprise by the looks on their faces. I quickly dove to the ground, grabbing the strap attached to the scroll and rolled back up. As soon as my feet hit the floor, they didn't stop running. I slung the scroll over my good shoulder and ran into the bushes. I didn't look back but I could hear the sound of footsteps close behind. They were pursuing me and I couldn't stop now. I was praying that by some miracle I would run into a ninja from the village and then I would be safe from these people.

I swerved through the branches and the bushes but I could still hear them trailing close behind. I had to do something quick or I was done for. I saw a hollow log coming into view and it was just big enough for me to crawl through. The end of the log was on the other side of the rocks and it gave me and idea. I ran into the log, crawling on all fours. My pursuers were definitely to big to crawl through so I knew that they would go over it instead. I quickly formed a ram seal with my fingers and whispered the word _henge._ My body took the form of a rock in the inside edge of the log. I waited and listened for the footsteps around me. Suddenly, the girl's face peered into the hole. Her eyes glanced right passed me to search the inside of the log before standing up again.

"He's not here" She called.

"Where the hell did that brat run to?" The voice belonged to the girl's look-a-like, Hiroto.

"When we find him…I'm gonna rip his throat out!" The rough voice definitely belonged to Tarou.

"The scroll is our first priority. Bring it back safe. Now go!" The voices faded into the distance and when I was sure that I could no longer hear their footsteps, I released the jutsu and crawled out of the log. I ran towards the direction I came from until I found myself in the clearing next to the wooden shed again. I couldn't control my breathing. I was panting so hard that I had to place the scroll down for a moment to catch some air. My shoulder was still in pain and the soaked blood was beginning to dry into my clothes. My heart was still racing, not from all of the running but from the fact that I was terrified. I knew they would find me sooner or later and I don't know what to do. My knees suddenly collapsed from right underneath me and my breathing turned into panicked sobs. I couldn't hold my tears in anymore…they flowed down my face freely. I was afraid…I was alone…and I was going to die.

The wind blew hard through the field, the grass and the leaves swaying in the breeze. It ruffled my hair and it felt good on my hot face.

"_Don't cry."_ My heart jumped. I scanned my surrounding to see the owner of the voice. I knew it could not belong to a member in the group that was searching for me in the dark. It was too beautiful to belong to someone so dangerous.

"_Open the scroll" _I heard it again but it was no person. The wind was whispering to me. A voice so angelic…so soft…rang clearly in my mind like the chime of a bell.

"_Naruto…open the scroll" _It was calling to me…commanding me to open the scroll. I couldn't refuse the voice's order. I reached over to the scroll lying in the grass by my feet. Slowly, I undid the rope that held it together. The scroll unraveled and I could make out the kanji on top: _Forbidden Ninjutsu. _Maybe I shouldn't open it. I could get into trouble for this.

"_Don't be afraid, Naruto. Trust me." _The voice was so pure…like a little girl. For some reason, I knew that I could trust the voice. I looked at the scroll again and unrolled it until I could read the first jutsu on the list: _Kage Bunshin No Jutsu. _

Bunshin? Was this like the bunshin no justu? If it was…how could I possibly master this when I could not master the other. The wind blew through my hair once again. It was encouraging me to continue. I read the instructions for the jutsu carefully and studied the hand seals needed. One hand seal…I expected something more…complex, after all this was a forbidden scroll. Mimicking the hand seal, I said the words aloud.

Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

Nothing happened. I reread the instructions, but I did not miss a step. Did I do something wrong?

"_More chakra." _The voice said as if to answer my question. More chakra? How much more? Would it work? My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden rustle of leaves in the distance. Was it the wind again?

"_Run!"_ A sense of danger washed over me. It wasn't the wind…they were back and coming after me. I wrapped the scroll back up. There was no more time to test the jutsu. I slung the scroll over my good shoulder and pulled myself to my feet again. I took off running without looking back, but I could hear the voices coming closer.

"There he is!"

"Don't let him escape again." Then the footsteps suddenly disappeared. I looked over my shoulder and saw that they were gone. Where did they g--

I was pulled off my feet and into the air. I was looking into a pair of fierce black eyes…the eyes of a beast.

"Thought you could out smart us, huh kid? Didn't think we would find you? Guess what?! We've found you and I'm gonna kill you!" Tarou flung me to the floor effortlessly and watched me quiver in pain. Hiroko was next to me in a flash. Instead of injuring me like her partner, she pulled the scroll off my back.

"I've got the scroll, Kisho-sama." The cloaked man from before was now standing in front of Hiroko.

"Well done." I could see the corners of his mouth pull up into a grin under his hood. Hiroto stood next to him staring at the scroll.

"What is so important about this scroll to go and risk are lives to get in the first place?" The older man began to laugh uncontrollably. Hiroto, Hiroko, and Tarou looked at him nervously.

"Don't you get it?" He said still laughing. "This scroll contains Konoha's most secretive techniques. With this, Konoha will fall by our hands." He looked at the scroll and took it into his hands. "They will pay for what they've done." He said now completely serious. "They will all die." I swallowed hard and tried to inch myself away carefully. Tarou's boot came down hard onto my chest that I could feel the bones crack under the pressure. I could taste the blood coming out of my mouth. The taste of salt and metal on my tongue sickened me.

"Where do you think you're going, kid? Playtime's not over yet!" He turned away to look at the older man. "How bout we test some of those forbidden jutsus on the boy. I'm sure he'll love that." The older man shook his head.

"These are not toys to play with Tarou. We do not know what they are capable of and we're not gonna waste their power on a little kid." Tarou snorted.

"Fine, I'll do this myself then." He smiled down to me and put his hands together in a familiar seal. With speed my eyes couldn't follow, he performed the hand signs he needed and whispered: Suiton water prison no jutsu.

Water appeared out of nowhere and rushed around me until I was completely encased. The water was filling up inside and I was running out of air. The water was too strong too push out and escape so I did the only thing I could think of. I held my breath while thrashing around violently in the inside. Tarou laughed at me and called Hiroto to his side. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Hiroto suddenly looked at me with a grin on his face. I couldn't see his hands perform hand seals or hear his voice calling out his jutsu. But all I knew was that he stuck his hands onto the water prison and then I was in so much pain. My entire body felt like it was on fire and I was shaking out of control. I opened my mouth to scream but the water rushed in and filled my lungs. I could feel my conscious slipping slowly as soon I was out of oxygen.

Suddenly, the water fell from around me and I was dropped to the floor. I held myself up on my elbows as I violently coughed the water out of my throat. My wet hair fell over my eyes and my body shivered as the wind blew against my skin. I heard Tarou's voice laughing behind me.

"How'd you like that, kid? Nothing like having electricity course through your entire body. But I am surprised you can still move after that…but that one last long. Hiroko…do it." The girl appeared in front of me. Crouching down with intensity burning in her eyes. Her hand were in an unfamililiar hand seal and she whispered gently: Nimpo Dark dream no jutsu.

The world around me went dark and I was standing on my feet again. Everything was pitch black and I looked around frantically for some light. Suddenly, the world transformed into utter chaos. Fire and destruction surrounded me and I didn't know why.

"What is this? Where am I?" I whispered to myself. The sound of muffled cries caught my attention. I turned around and saw a small girl huddled underneath the remains of a destroyed building. She looked younger than me, maybe five or six. Her clothes were tattered and her arms and legs were badly cut. I could barely see her face with all of her black hair covering it. I slowly approached her carefully.

"Don't cry. I'll help you." I said trying to comfort her. I stretched out my hand to reach her and her reaction took me by surprise. She pulled back and started screaming.

"Stay away from me! You killed them…you killed them all, you monster!" She cried harder into her arms.

"What?" I whispered. I slowly backed away from her but I tripped backwards and fell to the ground. I looked down at my feet and I felt my eyes pop out of my head.

"Iruka-sensei?!" There he was, staring at me with a blank expression. I could feel a lump form in my throat and my tears swelling up at the corners of my eyes. He was dead…bloody and cold. My heart began to race as I crawled backwards to get away. My hand brushed against something wet. I brought my hand to my face to take a better look. Red. My hand was red with blood. My body began to shake uncontrollably as I turned around to look at the object behind me. "Old man?!" He was dead too. Why was the hokage dead? Twisting my head from side to side, I could see them all. Bodies littered the ground around me. All of them dead.

Fear and despair ran through my body as I picked myself off the ground and ran from the scene as fast as my legs could go. How could they be dead? How did this happen? I closed my eyes from the fear of seeing another familiar body on the ground.

"No! No! No! No! No! This is not happening! This can't be happening!" I yelled.

"But it is." My feet came to a stop and my eyes flew open to the familiar voice.

"Sasuke? You're alive." I whispered. There he stood in front of me with a hardened look on his face. "What happened, Sasuke? Why is everyone dead?" I cried out to him.

"Everyone is dead because of you." I looked at him confused. His expression stayed the same.

"Me? I killed them?" I growled at him angrily. "Iruka-sensei. The old man. The whole village. How could they be dead because of me?! I would never do anything to hurt them!" Sasuke just laughed, but this laugh was different. Cold and dead like everything else surrounding us. The look in his eyes sent chills up my spine.

"That's where you are wrong. They are dead because you are a monster. YOU ARE THE NINE TAILED FOX!" He broke into laughter again, but louder and I felt myself screaming over it.

"NO!" I dropped to my knees with my hands pressed against my ears to block out his laughter. I felt water splash around my legs as I dropped to the ground. I looked down to see my reflection staring back at me. Wait. That's not me. He looked like me but his eyes were burning red and his lips were pulled back into a smile to show the sharp canines underneath. "No" I breathed. "I'm not a monster. I'm not you!" The reflection's deep, hallow laughter echoed in my ears.

"**You are me and we will show this world who we truly are. We are the Kyuubi and we will show them all!"** He yelled.

"NOOOO!" I thrust my fists into the water, my heart racing and my breathing heavy. When I pulled back my hands, the water transformed. Dense and dark red. Blood. The water became blood in my hands and it wasn't the only thing that had changed. My nails grew long and sharp and my throat burned for the taste of blood. I could feel the razor edges of my teeth brush against my tounge. The dark drew brighter until it burned in my eyes. Everything was burning in fire and blood. It was consuming me, slowly and painfully. The fire inched around me, caressing my skin until I was completely covered. I did the only thing I could do. I screamed. I screamed until my throat was sore and my eyelids grew heavy. Then everything went dark.

* * *

Normal perspective

Naruto laid still and unmoving on the grass with Tarou, Hiroto, and Hiroko standing over him. They watched his face express his emotions. Confusion. Pain. Anger. Fear. They watched with amusement as he suffered in the genjutsu placed upon him. Then an ear shattering scream escaped Naruto's mouth forcing the three ninjas to wince in pain. Hiroto looked questionably at his twin sister.

"What kind of genjutsu did you use on him?" He asked.

"One that shows my victims what they fear the most." She answered.

"What's he afraid of to be screaming like that?" She shrugged.

"I can't see what they are seeing so I don't know."

"Well whatever it is…at least he is suffering." Tarou said with a grin. Kisho was standing far off from the group. His hood still covering his face to hide his emotions. He carried the scroll on his back and his cane in his right hand. He was not interested in the boy or what his comrades were doing, but he knew they had to leave soon before they were discovered by the enemy. It didn't matter to him what happens to his comrades…more like associates really, but he knew that if he was caught with the secret scroll than his plan for revenge would be a failure. He turned away from the group and began walking towards the edge of the forest.

"What's happening with him?" Tarou's question forced him to turn around. He was crouching in front of the boy, blocking him from Kisho's view. Hiroko shook her head, confused.

"I don't know. This has never happened before." She said worriedly. Kisho walked over to the group out of curiosity and looked down at the boy. A bright red glow was seeping out of Naruto's stomach and wrapping around him like a second skin.

"What is this evil chakra?" He whispered. The group looked at him in surprise.

"Chakra?" Hiroto asked questionably. "Are you saying that this…aura is…chakra?" Hiroko shook her head.

"That's not possible. Chakra is not visible and why is it red?"

"What is with this boy?" Tarou asked never taking his eyes off Naruto. They watched in silence as the red chakra swirled around the wound on Naruto's shoulder until it disappeared completely. "What the hell?" Tarou shouted. Suddenly, they were all thrown backwards by a strong force of power. Red tendrils of chakra swirled around Naruto burning the surrounding grass into ash. Kisho lifted his head up from the ground and watched as the boy picked himself up. The swirling chakra faded away but he still glowed with a red aura.

"What is he?" He whispered. Naruto's head snapped up and blood red eyes with slitted pupils locked onto Kisho's face. His hood had flown back now revealing his face. His face showed his age with every wrinkle and sun spot. His hair was cut short and messy and mixed with black and silver hair. A long scar ran diagonally down his nose to the upper right of his lip and all the way to the bottom of his jaw. His eyes were mismatched, one blue and the other green. They watched in fear as Naruto's lips pulled back into a snarl and his body bent down into a crouch like an animal. In one fluid motion, he lunged forward.

Kisho did not have time to respond. In less than a second, Naruto appeared behind him and with the back of his arm, Kisho was sent careening forward. He flew several yards before sliding into the dirt. Instead of continuing his attack, Naruto went for the remaining members of the team. With superior speed and strength, he kicked Tarou into the trees with ease. Hiroto was on his feet and performing hand seals as fast as possible. He stuck his arms out and yelled: Raiton Lightning strike no jutsu. His arms coursed with electricity and it shot forward to Naruto. The electricity collided with the red chakra barrier around his skin and fizzled out of existent. Hiroto looked frustrated but that did not last long when Naruto suddenly appeared next to him and grabbed him by the arm. When he had a good grip, Naruto squeezed Hiroto's arm until he heard the bone brake. Hiroto screamed in agony and then was twisted around to meet Naruto's fist and sent flying back. Hiroko screamed out her brother's name but that only caught Naruto's attention.

Before she could perform any jutsus, he was standing in front of her. With several quick and powerful blows to different parts of her body, she was sent flying into a tree which cracked under the pressure and she fell to the floor unconscious.

"Suiton: water blade no jutsu." Tarou had just finished a set of hand seals and was charging forward with a blade of water in his hands. Naruto did not even flinch when the blade came into contact with his skin. Instead the water evaporated into the air, forming a screen of smoke around Tarou and Naruto. The only thing you could hear were the sounds of an animalistic growl and Tarou's pain filled screams. When the smoke finally cleared, Tarou laid dead on the floor with a hole in his chest and his eyes still wide in fear. Blood pooled around his body like an ocean. Naruto stood in front of him with blood covering his right arm. He suddenly lifted his nose to the air and sniffed. After a second, he disappeared into the trees leaving Kisho alone with Tarou dead and Hiroko unconscious.

Hiroto was panting hard. He was trying to get as far away as possible. He jumped from tree to tree with an injured arm. Now he was incapable of forming jutsus and was running in the dark forest from an eight year old with evil chakra. His teammates were probably dead including his sister so his only chance of survival was to escape as soon as possible. He was probably a mile away from the clearing, so he sat against the tree to catch his breath. He turned around to look past the tree trunks to see if he was being followed. He wasn't. He was alone. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes. It was very quiet. The wind did not even make a sound. Suddenly, he heard a twig snap. His eyes flipped open. His eyes met demonic red ones. Before he had a chance to scream, a clawed hand reached out and grabbed him by the neck. His skin burned under the touch of the chakra surrounding Naruto's hands. The nails dug deep into the skin causing blood to ooze down his neck. In one swift motion, Naruto pulled back his arm, ripping Hiroto's throat out in the process. Hiroto fell from the trees to the forest floor with a thud. His eyes frozen in fear and his mouth hung open as if he were trying to scream. Claw marks were still visible on his neck and the blood soaked down to the front of his shirt. Naruto looked at the body with disgust before leaping away.

* * *

Kisho had managed to get himself off the ground with the support of his cane. He hated to admit it but he was afraid. He had never felt this way since the third great shinobi war. He wanted his revenge against Konoha because they had won the war against Iwagakure and Kumogakure. He had seen his own village, the once great hidden stone village fall to it's knees by a single man. Konohagakure's Yellow Flash, a man given a run on sight warning in the bingo books, had ruined his life. Not only had his village lost a large percentage of ninja but he had lost his brother as well. The Yellow Flash was already dead but that didn't mean that he couldn't punish Konoha. He had learned of the secret scroll from one of Konoha's very own ninja, a strange man with silver hair. He had said that the scroll possessed jutsus that if it fell in the wrong hands, it could lead to the village's destruction. He hasn't heard from that ninja since but all he knew know was that he was locked up somewhere for committing crimes against the village.

Now when he had the scroll in his procession, he runs into a kid with a unnatural powers that could eliminate him with his bare hands. Why was it when Iwa had the upper hand, Konoha always struck back even harder. He had went through so much trouble for this scroll. When his own village refused his ideas, he left which meant he was now a missing nin. He had met others who had abandoned their villages and shared a deep hatred towards Konoha. Just when he was close to succeeding, a kid with this evil chakra appears and was now trying to kill him. This kid had already eliminated Kisho's teammates and if it had to come down to it, he would have to kill the boy. What a shame, the boy had such great potential.

Kisho was no standing straight, cane in his left hand and the scroll on his back. His eyes were closed but he knew that the boy was standing in front of him. He could almost sense the malicious look in his red eyes. Without opening his eyes, Kisho took his cane and slammed it into the earth in front of him. He formed the hand seals at an incredible speed. He wasn't an elite jounin in Iwakagure for nothing. When he was done, his eyes snapped open. Blue and green pupils shining in the moon's light. With a strong voice, he began his attack.

"Doton, serpent's head no jutsu!" The dragon's eyes on the cane glowed a bright yellow and out of the ground rose an enormous snake constructed out of rock and dirt. In a quick second, the snake charged forward towards Naruto, bearing it's fangs. Naruto crouched down and growled at the snake. Before he could move, the snake wrapped itself around Naruto and began to squeeze. Naruto did not move as the snake opened it's mouth and aimed to swallow Naruto whole. The snake's head moved in closer and closer. At the last second, Naruto opened his own mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs. With incredible force, the snake was blown to bits and crumbled all around him. Kisho had a look of frustration on his face. He could not lose to this….thing. He promised his brother that he would avenge his death and that's what he was going to do. Performing some more seals, Kisho bit his finger and plowed his hands into the dirt.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The earth quaked and the dirt began to move. A line of earth rose up as if something was moving underneath. It twisted and turned, moving towards Naruto's direction. Naruto was crouching low, sniffing the ground and growled. Suddenly, something that resembled a tail with no fur burst out of the ground right underneath Naruto. Naruto leapt out of the way in time and landed a few feet away. Slowly the tail inched itself out of the hole, bringing the rest of the body with it. There standing in front of Naruto stood a large earth worm with mouths on both ends containing razor like teeth. It moved faster than the earth snake and dove back into the earth. Naruto could only listen carefully to where it would pop up from next. He would dodge each time it came up and then it would go right back down. He was beginning to get annoyed with the earth worm so after dodging another attack, Naruto jumps into the trees and waits for it to strike. He waits and waits but it didn't seem like it was going to come up again. He roared angrily at the ground, his demonic sound waves burning the earth into ash. It was not there. He was about to jump back to the ground and search for it himself when the tree he was standing on was suddenly pulled into the ground dragging Naruto down with it.

Kisho watched the hole from where the worm had sucked Naruto under. He waited for the worm to make it's appearance with a dead corpse to show it's victory against the demonic boy. It did not appear. Instead, a high pitched squeal rang through the sky, scaring away the animals in the trees. Kisho held his hands to his ears to block the noise but it proved to be useless. Then it was quiet again. Kisho waited for something to happen. His stomach twisted with anxiety. Maybe the boy was dead. Maybe they killed each other. Kisho chuckled quietly to himself.

The sound of falling rocks startled him. He watched the hole carefully for some movement. Out from the hole, a small hand appeared on the edge. The tan hand struggled to pull itself up but managed to do so. There sitting on the ground, dirty and tired was the blonde hair boy. Kisho looked at him with a shocked expression. The red chakra was gone from sight. Did he use it all up? The boy looked confused as if he didn't know what was going on. This was his chance. The boy was defenseless now. Kisho picked his cane of the floor and pulled off it sheath. At the end of the handle was now a thin, three foot blade. The moonlight reflected off the metal as Kisho moved closer to the boy. Naruto sat panting on the ground with his eyes closed, unaware of the danger moving closer and closer. Kisho was now standing in front of him with a sinister smile on his lip. He pulled back his arm that held the blade, preparing to strike.

"This is the end for you, boy." Naruto eyes flickered open at the man with confusion and fear written in his deep blue eyes. Kisho stood frozen in shock.

"Those eyes. It's impossible! HE'S DEAD!" Kisho looked at Naruto as if he was expecting him to answer some unasked question. His eyes were thoughtful for a moment before brightened in realization. He then started to laugh. Naruto looked at him as if he had lost his mind. " I know now! Why didn't I see it before! The resemblance is uncanny!" He continued to laugh.

"What?" Naruto whispered.

"I know who you are and now…I can avenge my brother. I can avenge him by killing you!" He pulled his arm back again and thrust the blade forward. Naruto shut his eyes waiting for the blow. Time seemed to slow down in that second. The wind blew through his hair and he heard the voice again. It was calling his name. It was so loud and clear that he almost didn't hear the sound of kunai and shuriken cutting through the air. He opened his eyes to see the blade only centimeters away from his chest. He looked up at the man. A kunai was embedded into his forehead. Blood oozed down his face and into his blue and green eyes until they were both red. He fell backwards, dead.

"Naruto!" A voice was calling to him again but it wasn't the same angelic voice he heard earlier. It was different but familiar. Suddenly, he was surrounded by other voices, all calling his name. Then he saw Iruka kneeling in front of him with other people standing close by. Iruka shook him by the shoulder gently, calling Naruto's name. Naruto did not move. He just watched the way Iruka's mouth moved and how no sound came out. It was quiet again. It was getting dark again. Naruto eyes felt heavy and weak at the same time. He looked up at the sky to search for some light and then he saw it. A white bird with a black scarf around it's neck was soaring in the sky above. It looked beautiful flying in the moonlight but just like before it was gone. Naruto's world went dark and his unconscious body fell limp to the ground with a thud.

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End of Chapter 12

Very, very, very, very long chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.

Next chapter: Naruto's secret sensei arrives!

Please Review!!


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